Kaiser Permanente: Providing High-Quality Affordable Health Care to the Rocky Mountain Region

Bobby King believes the most beautiful part about being on this planet is that every person is different.

The director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Kaiser Permanente Colorado Region, King knows that not everyone starts out with the same advantages. He knows that people are not equal. He also recognizes that humans are complex, and when you’re providing a service—like health care—to the general population, you better get to know whom you’re serving and what they need.

“It’s like a botanical garden where all the flowers are so different,” he said. “They each need a certain amount of rain, sunshine, nurturing, and care. People are just the same. We all need different things; that’s the equity part. I mean, a rose needs a different amount of nurturing than a tulip or an iris.

“As we recognize that fact, as human beings, we can care and nurture for one another in that unique way.”

Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health care providers plans, serving 11.8 million members across the nation. It was also ranked second on DiversityInc’s 2017 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, an annual report that recognizes the nation’s inclusive and diverse businesses.

Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of their members and the communities they serve, including the LGBTQ community.

“At Kaiser Permanente, we really pride ourselves on providing affordable health care for all American citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, identity, or sexual orientation,” King said. “That’s just how we operate. So in terms of the LGBTQ community, they are our members, our employees, our partners, our brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews. They are our family.”

But having an accepting outlook alone isn’t enough to earn a company a spot at the top of this nation’s diversity standard. It takes a lot more than that.

Kaiser Permanente is committed to advancing diversity at every level of the organization. More than 60 percent of the organization’s total workforce are members of racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities, and more than 73 percent are women. They are proud sponsors of pride events across the nation, including Denver’s PrideFest every Father’s Day weekend.

But, beyond that, Kaiser is on the forefront of making sure that every single patient, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity, is treated with respect. They are one of the few major health care companies to enforce that their employees and doctors use the correct gender pronouns when helping transgender and gender nonconforming patients. They ensure that all medical records are properly kept so no one feels unsafe or out of place as they navigate doctors visits.

Kaiser Permanente, recognizing that no one should change who they are, meets its patients on their turf.

“It all comes down to respect. When we say that we ‘meet our people where they are,’ it’s not a physical location, it’s a cultural context for us,” King said. “The bottom line is that they want to be respected for who they are. Members are members. Family is family. Respect is respect.

“We have to be mindful that when people go to the doctor, it puts them in a vulnerable place. That’s why I say that we have to be culturally competent and culturally literate in the dialogue when providing medical, prevention, or wellness services to our members.”