Deputy Minister Robin Martin Kåss, Political Adviser Tord Dale, Director General Bjørn Erikstein, Director General Kari Sonderland and Deputy Director General Cathrine Meland spent a packed 48 hours visiting American healthcare provider facilities and healthcare technology companies in California to learn more about the integration of primary and specialty care, best practices for measuring healthcare efficiencies and services, and the latest medical technologies.
According to Deputy Minister Kåss, healthcare in the U.S. is relevant not only because of innovators in the healthcare system but because both the U.S. and Norway are among the top healthcare spenders per capita in the world. “Both the U.S. and Norway are high spenders and so this visit was focused on how it is possible to cut costs while improving healthcare quality,” he said.
Exploring Both an Integrated Model and a Government Model
On January 3, San Francisco Consul General Sten Arne Rosnes, Vice Consul General Geir Tønnessen, and Innovation Norway Manager for Business Development and Client Services Åse Pettersen Bailey took the delegation to Kaiser Permanente headquarters for presentations on their integrated care model and its implications for quality and cost control.
The group spent the afternoon at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to learn about the government’s health strategy for its veteran population.
Latest Silicon Valley Technologies for Healthcare on Display
During the second day of the visit, the delegation traveled to Silicon Valley, where it toured El Camino Hospital, a state-of-the art private hospital with the vision of using technology to provide superior experience, access to information, and efficient service delivery for its patients.
After walking alongside robots supporting the needs of the hospital’s staff, the delegation visited Cisco Systems, which features an onsite health center. Cisco employees demonstrated the company’s onsite primary care system with its incorporation of the latest company technologies such as its care-at-a-distance solutions.
The next stop for the Norwegian health delegation is Houston, Texas. California’s lasting contribution to the tour will no doubt center on its technological contributions to the medical field. As Deputy Minister Kåss said, “We were inspired by the use of IT to improve healthcare and [the visit] shows how it is possible to use technology to make a high-standard system.”