GSPP Alumni Steer Kaiser Permanente Through COVID-19 Crisis

When Kaiser Permanente wanted to ensure that its 700 medical facilities serving over 12 million patients were sufficiently staffed to meet the COVID-19 crisis, and that those staff had enough medical supplies and personal protective equipment, they turned to GSPP alumni Michelle Wong (MPP/MPH ’01) and Mariana Saenz (MPP/MPH ’15). 

Wong and Saenz work for the Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute (CMI), a think tank that identifies and shares successful practices for improving patient care in the eight regions under Kaiser’s national umbrella. The institute focuses on serving patients with complex health and psychosocial needs.

In mid-March, Wong and Saenz were asked to step aside from their roles to assist Kaiser in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo was tasked with translating the results of Kaiser’s internal forecasting to appropriate staff throughout the organization, and ensuring that the organization's stock of medical supplies was distributed to Kaiser sites across the country in order to sufficiently and equitably meet demand.

“The forecasting was the anchor to this work,” says Saenz. “Kaiser forecasted when surges around the country would occur so that we could ensure that our hospitals had sufficient supplies – such as personal protective equipment, medical tests, ventilators, and large volume pumps.”

The crisis demanded sizeable shifts in Kaiser’s work culture, including that staff with vastly different roles collaborate as never before and at an accelerated pace. “For the first few weeks, it was like we were at war,” reflects Wong. “Mariana (Saenz) was asked to participate in daily, cross-functional meetings among teams that had rarely worked together – from clinical experts to staff involved in designing forecasting models and sourcing – in order to rapidly address any concerns that had emerged and their implications for supply. And then within 24-hours, everything would change. There would be new numbers, or new information available on supplies. And all of those things have to be communicated to the appropriate teams and up to our senior leaders.”

As Wong and Saenz mobilized experts from across Kaiser, they created an infrastructure for managing the organization’s coordinated response to COVID-19. 

Their GSPP training suited them to the challenge. Saenz likened the experience to the 32-hour memo, only with far more significant real-world consequences. In a rite of passage now infamous among Goldman alumni, first-year students are asked to draft a policy memo within 32 hours, on a topic in which they often lack expertise. “We are not supply chain people,” says Saenz. “We had maybe two or three days to completely jump in, set up the infrastructure for bringing different stakeholders together, and learn to speak their language.”

According to Saenz and Wong, however, the biggest challenges may lie ahead. 

“Now that the spread is slowing, it’s no longer a sprint, it’s a marathon,” says Wong. “We have social distancing in place. But now we are talking about surveillance and testing, and easing back into elective surgeries. The consequences of delaying care and immunizations will soon come to light, and we expect that social disparities in health outcomes will be even more pronounced. And now, there are many people who have lost their coverage and may no longer be able to afford basic care.”

Wong and Saenz believe that their Goldman MPP strengthened their ability to liaise across different teams to facilitate decision making during the crisis. “The generalist toolkit that GSPP provides has been invaluable in this situation because we worked with people across so many different specializations,” reflects Wong. 

“Our MPP training allowed us to build credibility with the technical experts because we can speak their language and see the situation through their lens, even though we do not claim to be technical experts ourselves,” added Saenz. “The Eightfold Path is also an invaluable tool for framing the problem and laying out options in ways that allow leaders to respond.”

“That is the beauty of the Goldman MPP – it equips you to understand the technical analysis while also stepping back and seeing the whole picture, making connections, and translating messages for decision making,” says Wong. “We are in rooms with people that have significant influence in the organization, and we are trained to ask the right questions, within the right framework. It really is speaking truth to power.”