Providing an empathy-based starting point for exploring ways to deliver care in ambulatory settings of the future.

Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Region was implementing a very aggressive capital plan to build over 60 clinics in 8 years. But rather than just looking at this as a capital expansion project, SCAL boldly took this as an opportunity to envision how ambulatory care ought to be delivered in the future, and the spaces we create to transform how that care is delivered.

Kaiser Permanente recognized early on that Project RAD (Re-imagining Ambulatory Design) was not about bricks and mortar, but rather an opportunity to rethink how they deliver care, specifically related to patient experience and affordability. Our KP team was charged with conducting the first round of ethnographic research to help lay the foundation for further exploration and to identify areas we could deliver care differently.

Our research uncovered deep insights into our members’ needs and our providers’ needs.  We explored the intersection between what is good for business and what is good for our communities. How might shift the center of care from medical offices into members’ activities, relationships, and their communities?

The resulting insights from ethnography fed multiple ideation sessions that generated strategies and new concepts for the future of care delivery. We found that healthcare and patients exist in almost complete isolation from one another, a gap that is bridged only by brief, sporadic interactions. After two years of intensive work, a new system for integrated outpatient delivery was designed.

Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Hills Medical Center was awarded best medical project by Los Angeles Business Journal and is considered “one of the most leading edge medical facilities”. Kaiser Permanente describes Project RAD as “the most inclusive project in KP history." Read more about the implementation in this Fast Company article: Kaiser Permanente Designed A Health Center That Puts Patients First.