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Eric Topol Interviews CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Bernard Tyson, MD on Balancing Technology and Human Touch

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

UPDATED on 11/11/2019

November 11, 2019 at 12:46 p.m. EST

Bernard J. Tyson, the chairman and chief executive of Kaiser Permanente, one of the country’s largest nonprofit health-care providers and insurers, died Nov. 10 at 60.

The Oakland, Calif.-based company said he died in his sleep but did not provide additional information. He had recently spoken at the AfroTech conference in Oakland, tweeting the day before his death in support of health care that “is high-tech and high-touch.”

Mr. Tyson was the first African American CEO of Kaiser when he took that position in 2013, after nearly three decades at the company. He had previously worked as a hospital administrator and chief operating officer, and was included on Time magazine’s 2017 list of the world’s most influential people.

Under Mr. Tyson, Kaiser grew from 9.1 million members and 174,000 employees to 12.3 million members and 218,000 employees, increasing annual revenue from $53 billion to more than $82.8 billion, according to the company.

Editor’s Note: In this One-on-One with Medscape Editor-in-Chief Eric Topol, Bernard Tyson outlines his remarkable career at Kaiser Permanente, where he advanced from a position in the medical records department to become CEO of the $60 billion-a-year company. He also talks about why the human touch will always be at the center of healthcare, even as technology revolutionizes patient care.

WATCH VIDEO

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/867711#vp_1

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SOURCE

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/867711#vp_1