Health Views with Deb Friesen, MD

Dr. Pickens believes that the best version of ourselves comes not from the pursuit of happiness, but from the pursuit of healthiness. He invites us to reflect on the question: How can I get better? Listen to this conversation to hear innovative tools to help you grow into a healthier, more fulfilled version of yourself, with a focus on belonging, well-being, and curiosity.

Tune in to this episode of Health Views featuring Margaret E. O’Kane, founder and president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Margaret delves into the fascinating NCQA origin story, her commitment to embedding quality in healthcare, and how NCQA is pioneering new approaches to evaluate virtual care, mental health and advance health equity.

Listen to this Health Views episode with Kaiser Permanente’s SVP of Care Delivery Technology Services, Desiree Gandrup-Dupre. Desiree discusses how technology has evolved throughout her career and how it’s enabled advancements in health care delivery through a focus on value-added benefits for both patients and clinicians.

Theatre is a powerful healthcare educational tool for both adults and children. We’re excited to share an insightful conversation with Betty Hart and Jared Randolph, Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre program leads who are focused on improving teacher and staff well-being, workforce health, and youth mental health through their amazing productions. Listen in to learn about Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre program and for helpful mental health best practices that anyone can use. Here is the link for more information https://thrivingschools.kaiserpermanente.org/educational-theatre/.

Our April Health Views guest is Dr. Sarah Leitz. Dr. Leitz is a Kaiser Permanente Internal Medicine Physician in the Northwest who is focused on helping and treating patients with substance use disorders through a patient-centered approach and a harm reduction framework. Listen to this episode to learn how proven behavioral health best practices can be applied both within and outside the patient setting.

We’re excited to welcome Heather R. Younger as our March Health Views guest! Heather is the founder and CEO of Employee Fanatix, a leading employee engagement and consulting firm whose mission is to inspire and train leaders to put their culture and employees first. During this episode, Heather shares her proven and innovative active listening at work model illustrated in five steps. The model provides an easy-to-use framework to help individuals feel more heard, valued, and understood within professional environments. Don’t miss out on Heather’s own podcast, Leadership with Heart to receive additional insights, stories, and best practices.  

As 2023 comes to a close, we’re excited to share a discussion on healthy habits with our Health Views with Deb Friesen, MD host, Dr. Deb Friesen! Listen to this energizing episode for helpful tips and tools directly from Dr. Deb on how to improve behavior and learn small/actionable steps anyone can take to drive change and new habits. Thank you for listening this year and we look forward to releasing new episodes in 2024!  

We’re pleased to have Dr. Janet Choi as our next Health Views guest! Dr. Choi is Progyny’s Chief Medical Officer and has more than 20 years of experience in the fertility reproductive health field as a board-certified specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology. During this discussion, Dr. Deb and Dr. Choi cover several topics including: Dr. Choi’s passion and expert role in bringing babies into the world for decades, her mission to provide an equitable and inclusive family building experience for so many, and what employers can do to support and provide more access to fertility care solutions.

Our October Health Views guest is Narayanan “Nari” Gopala, Kaiser Permanente’s chief digital officer. As chief digital officer, Nari leads cross-functional teams to transform a full range of digital experiences in service to the organization’s 12.7 million members and its clinical workforce. Nari oversees Kaiser Permanente’s member app and website, kp.org, including its digital strategy, user experience, and ongoing enhancements, which have received numerous industry accolades such as Webby Awards’ People’s Voice winner in 2022 and Design Company of the Year by Fast Company in 2022. Listen to this thought-provoking discussion to learn more about the digital transformation of health care and how consumer demand for a digital health experience has evolved since the pandemic.   

We’re pleased to have Dr. Bechara Choucair as our next Health Views guest! As chief health officer at Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Choucair oversees the organization’s efforts to address the social health of its 12.5 million members and work to improve conditions for health and equity for all 68 million people living in the communities it serves. A key priority for Dr. Choucair and focus of this discussion is identifying the connection and relationship between climate change, health, and equity. Dr. Choucair says, “those that are contributing the least are being impacted the most”. Listen to this engaging and important interview to hear Dr. Choucair’s collective call to action for all of us to help communities and systems — resulting in real positive change.