From classroom to care strategy: A Luskin Public Policy student’s summer at Kaiser Permanente shaping patient-centered health policy.

Where are you working this summer and what are your primary responsibilities or focus areas day-to-day?

I’m working at Kaiser Permanente this summer as a Care Delivery Strategy Intern on the National Clinical Services team. Our team consists of specialists from multiple disciplines to design care that is more personalized, predictive, and coordinated for patients and members. We focus on creating seamless experiences across settings, from prevention and early intervention to acute care and long-term support. Our work spans a range of areas, from kidney care services to national initiatives like improving end-of-life care through the Dignified Journeys program. In my role, I contribute to multiple projects within these portfolios, supporting strategies that advance our goal of ensuring that patients receive the right care at the right time in the right place.

Have you drawn on any skills, concepts, or lessons from your Luskin coursework in your summer role? If so, how have they come into play?

One of the most valuable skills I’ve been able to apply from my Luskin coursework is stakeholder engagement. At Kaiser, this takes on a unique context because the organization is both the insurance plan and the care provider. My projects have involved collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders that include operations leaders, managerial consultants, project managers, physicians, nurses, and more. Through these projects, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of how each stakeholder’s background, training, and responsibilities shape the way they approach challenges. 

Drawing on what I’ve learned at Luskin, I’ve practiced actively listening to their perspectives while identifying common priorities and finding ways to cater towards different viewpoints to move projects forward. I’ve also been able to apply lessons on decision making analysis, particularly around balancing multiple priorities such as efficiency, equity, and cost. Our Luskin coursework has given me the lens to carefully consider how each decision impacts our overall goal of optimizing the quality of care and quality of life for patients and members.

Describe a specific project, interaction, or milestone this summer that made you think, “Yes, this is why I chose this field.” What did you take away from that moment?

One of my goals this summer has been to connect with colleagues across Kaiser and learn from their career journeys. A memorable conversation I had was with a senior operations leader working on a falls prevention initiative. He shared his journey from starting out as a physical therapist to now leading national research and advocacy efforts to reduce falls, while still working directly with complex case management. Hearing the statistics behind this initiative was compelling, for example, in older adults, a serious fall can increase mortality rates by nearly 50%. In more complex cases, families and clinicians face difficult decisions about whether surgery will improve quality of life, given the risks of recovery. What inspired me was how he balances both the individual impact of serving vulnerable patients with the large scale change of shaping policy and strategy within Kaiser. His work showed me that improving care for vulnerable populations requires both empathy and strategy, understanding lived experiences while building solutions that can optimize their quality of life. Witnessing how much meaning he finds in connecting direct patient care with national strategy deeply inspired me and reinforced why I want to dedicate my career to advancing health policy.