Director's perspective

Program Director, Carl Morris, MD, MPH, talks about what he thinks makes our program unique.

Welcome to Kaiser Permanente and thank you for considering our program. Kaiser Permanente Washington is an answer for U.S. health care and our residents have the unique opportunity to be part of this. Becoming a family physician today is an opportunity to provide the health care solutions for your community, and we are committed to providing you the tools to do so.

U.S. health care is in the midst of transformation and becoming a family physician today creates an opportunity to improve the health of your patients and your community. The reasons for choosing family medicine are what the nation needs—patient-centered, primary care-focused, population- based, high-quality, affordable care. The alignment between your values and your community needs creates solutions for our patients and the U.S. health care system. This synchrony between personal values, community needs, and national priorities provides you the opportunity to be part of meaningful change.

We at Kaiser Permanente are fortunate to be in the center of health care innovation. We provide our residents with unique training that prepares them to be at the forefront of health care transformation. Our residents train in the nation's leading patient-centered medical home in an integrated delivery system to which the health of the patient and the care delivery system are aligned. We believe that training in one of the most innovative care delivery models in the nation will provide you the skills for excellent care and the tools to shape the health care system in the years to come.

I invite you to learn more about our program. We are a community-based, education-driven, broad-spectrum, residency training program located in the heart of beautiful Seattle and the only residency program in a system that cares for 800,000 patients. We have an innovative curricula that is designed for you to care for a panel of 400 patients and practice full spectrum family medicine at a regular pace for 3 years. We also have unique training programs including, HIV training, gender health, women's health and reproductive medicine, broad-spectrum procedural training, areas of concentration, community medicine, extraordinary OB training, and many others.

It is a fantastic time to be in family medicine. Our challenge and opportunity is to combine your interests with our resources and to provide you with the tools needed to improve the health of the communities you choose to serve. In doing so, the Kaiser Permanente Family Medicine Residency and our graduates become meaningful levers of change at this unique juncture in health care delivery.

I am excited to share this with you.