David M. Lawrence, M.D.

David M. Lawrence, M.D., retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals after ten years of outstanding service and achievement.

Prior to being named CEO in 1991 and Chairman of the Board in 1992, Dr. Lawrence served KFHP/KFH as vice chairman and chief operating officer (1990-91); senior vice president and regional manager for Northern California (1988-89); vice president and regional manager in Colorado (1985-88); vice president and area medical director for Northwest Permanente in Portland (1981-85).  Dr. Lawrence also served as health officer and director of Human Services in Multnomah County, Oregon; on the faculty of Department of Health Services and Director of MEDEX in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington; as advisor to the Ministry of Health of Chile; and as Peace Corps Physician in the Dominican Republic and Washington, D.C.

Dr. Lawrence is a graduate of Amherst College (BA), the University of Kentucky

(MD), and the University of Washington (MPH).  He is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine (Johns Hopkins and University of WA).  He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (Medical Honorary Society) and the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Sciences).  He currently serves on the Boards of Agilent Technologies, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Raffles Medical Group of Singapore, The Rockefeller Foundation, RAND Health Advisory Board, and is a Senior Fellow in Health Policy, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. He has received numerous honors and is author of the book From Chaos to Care – The Promise of Team-Based Medicine. Dr. Lawrence is nationally known for his advocacy improvements in the American health care delivery system.  He served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Quality of Health Care in America that produced the landmark report on patient safety, “To Err is Human,” and the blueprint for improving America’s health care system, “The Quality Chasm.”

Dr. Lawrence’s achievements have improved both Kaiser Permanente and American health care. Throughout his tenure as Chairman and CEO, he:

• Prioritized the delivery of quality health care as the single most important value of Kaiser Permanente. Led Kaiser Permanente to be a quality leader in U.S. medicine.
• Focused Kaiser Permanente’s and the nation’s attention on the issue of patient safety and the need for reforms in the nation’s health care delivery system.
• Championed the expanded use of information technology for clinical care in Kaiser Permanente and the nation as a whole.
• Conceived and initiated the Labor Management Partnership, the only one of its kind in health care, with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
• Created a culture of diversity within Kaiser Permanente and made it one of the most inclusive workplaces in the nation.
• Redesigned Kaiser Permanente’s Community Benefit Program to enhance its value to the communities it serves.
• Led and returned Kaiser Permanente to financial stability after years of turnaround and financial difficulties.

We commend Dr. Lawrence for his successful stewardship of Kaiser Permanente and the positive impact that Kaiser Permanente has had on the quality and affordability of health care in the United States. Given Kaiser Permanente’s vast influence on American medicine, these achievements have not only impacted Kaiser Permanente’s 8.4 million members nationwide, but any American who has needed care or cared for others within the nation’s delivery system.