Kaiser Permanente Colorado Honored With Prevention Excellence Award

Kaiser Permanente recently celebrated the great honor of receiving the Prevention Excellence Award from the American Cancer Society and the Colorado Business Group on Health. Kaiser Permanente Colorado won the 2009 Cancer Prevention Excellence Award, which was presented at the Colorado Culture of Health Conference, for a number of important reasons. The award is intended to honor health care plans that have shown dedication to preventing cancer and detecting it early on. Whether it’s Kaiser Permanente California or Colorado, this national organization has shown its commitment to battling cancer head on.

It was a great honor for Kaiser Permanente to receive this award, as the selection process is quite competitive. Organizations that have been nominated for the award are evaluated based on the number of members that have been screened for a variety of cancers, but that is only one portion of the selection process. The American Cancer Society and the Colorado Business Group on Health also reviewed the programs that each health care organization offers, such as programs to encourage quitting smoking, weight management, wellness in the workplace and reminder systems for cancer screening. Kaiser Permanente Colorado came out on top based on all these complex criteria.

Organizations like Kaiser Permanente California and Kaiser Permanente Colorado are among a small minority of health plans that are taking such a proactive approach in cancer prevention. Unfortunately, most health care plans offer only a moderate amount of cancer-related services for their members. This is why the American Cancer Society has made it one of their priorities to honor those health organizations that are taking the initiative to improve the outcome for those affected by cancer and prevent others from developing cancer in the first place. Kaiser’s cancer prevention and detection information, which can both save lives and cut costs, is also available to employers as well as members of the public, not just Kaiser insurance holders.

The American Cancer Society and the Colorado Business Group on Health hope that more organizations can take the same initiative that Kaiser has, for the sake of a cancer-free future for all.