In our Digital Pulse series, we sit down with leaders in healthcare, digital, and marketing to explore their work. This series is designed to draw perspectives from across the industry, enhancing our collective understanding of how different health systems tackle digital transformation.
Jeanine Maier, Vice President, Care Delivery Appointing, Nurse Advice, and Virtual Care Contact Centers, Health Plan at Kaiser Permanente, joined Modea for a conversation about what it takes to design care that’s not only digital-first but deeply personal. With 20 years at Kaiser Permanente and a background in biomedical engineering, she bridges technology, care delivery, and strategy, shaping how millions of members connect with their health every day.
This discussion explores Kaiser Permanente’s evolution toward a digital-first mindset, the success behind its Get Care Now program, and how the organization is rethinking personalization and trust in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape.
Read on for our full conversation.
Modea: Jeanine, can you tell us about your background and your role at Kaiser Permanente?
Jeanine: I serve as Vice President of Consumer Experience, partnering closely with our medical group leaders to lead what I call the “connecting to care” experience. I oversee our contact centers for appointments and advice, as well as our virtual care and digital programs.
My background is in biomedical engineering, so I’ve always been interested in solving healthcare challenges through technology. Over the past 20 years at Kaiser Permanente, I’ve worked across several areas—from consulting and supply chain to surgical clinics and care delivery—before moving into consumer experience. This role really combines my education and my past work to address challenges like access and affordability in healthcare.
Modea: Two decades is an incredible tenure. How have you seen Kaiser evolve in that time, especially when it comes to digital?
Jeanine: It’s been an amazing transformation. When I started, healthcare was very physician-centric. We then shifted to being patient-centric, and now we’ve moved toward a digital-first mindset.
I call it the Amazon effect. Our members are consumers, and their experiences in other industries shape what they expect from us. Convenience is now king. It used to be that having everything—doctor, pharmacy, lab—under one roof was our advantage. Today, the focus is on meeting patient needs quickly and easily, often in as few touches as possible.
That’s why we’ve invested heavily in building virtual care options over the last 10 to 15 years. Patients can now use online chat, fill out questionnaires reviewed by physicians, or have on-demand video or phone visits. And for those unsure where to start, we offer tools that help guide them to the right type of care. It’s all about ease, personalization, and choice.
Modea: Consumer engagement can mean a lot of different things depending on who you ask. How do you define it at Kaiser Permanente?
Jeanine: It’s true—some people don’t like the term “consumer” in healthcare. But the reality is, our members have more choice than ever in where they receive care and coverage. We have to meet them with the same level of attentiveness and convenience they experience elsewhere.
We’ve learned that engagement early in a member’s journey directly impacts retention. Those who engage with us in their first or second year tend to stay with us long-term. So we’ve built programs—many of them digital—that make it easy to connect: new member welcome journeys, caregiver and Medicare engagement programs, and outreach for low-utilization members who might not be taking advantage of their benefits.
It’s about creating an experience that feels personal and connected, so members see value in staying with us for years to come.
Modea: One of Kaiser’s most innovative programs, Get Care Now, came directly from that mindset. Can you tell us how it started?
Jeanine: Absolutely. The idea came from a conversation early in the pandemic with an emergency medicine physician. We asked ourselves, “What would make managing healthcare easier as a parent or caregiver?”
I mentioned that my mom is a nurse, and whenever my kids or I feel sick, I just text her for advice. We realized—what if every one of our 12 million members could do that? That led to the creation of Get Care Now, an on-demand service that allows members to log in through our app or website, join a queue, and connect with a clinician via phone or video—usually within 30 minutes.
The results have been incredible. Patients love it, physicians love it, and it’s consistently achieved a very high Net Promoter Score. It truly came from viewing patients as consumers and focusing on what would make their lives easier.
Modea: That’s an impressive turnaround. What did it take to bring Get Care Now to life?
Jeanine: From concept to go-live, it took about six months—which, for an organization our size, is remarkable.
The key was starting with the outcome we wanted, not the technology. We asked: What problem are we solving? What does success look like for patients and physicians? We aligned on that vision, launched a minimum viable product, and then continuously iterated based on feedback from both patients and our care teams.
Even years later, we’re still enhancing it. We’ve made iteration part of the product’s DNA. That mindset—speed to market, continuous learning, and shared vision—is something we’re now applying to other projects.
Modea: If you could remove all barriers, what’s one thing you’d do to further enhance the digital patient experience?
Jeanine: I wish I could clone more physicians and clinicians to perfectly balance access and demand! But realistically, I think the answer lies in creating experiences that are easy, personalized, connected, and trusted.
If we can deliver on those four principles, we not only improve access but also make healthcare more affordable and human-centered.
Modea: Personalization is a major theme right now, but it’s also challenging with regulations and privacy concerns. How are you approaching it?
Jeanine: We know patients are more satisfied when they have a strong relationship with their physician. So, we’re designing workflows that help sustain that connection—through digital appointing, message management, and more.
At the same time, we’re rethinking how systems talk to each other. For example, we’re modernizing our telephony platform so that when a patient calls, our teams can see if they recently tried to schedule online but hit a snag. That context allows us to provide service recovery and a more personal interaction.
Ultimately, it’s about using technology and data responsibly to strengthen relationships, not replace them.
Modea: That’s a thoughtful approach. Any final thoughts on where healthcare is headed?
Jeanine: Our goal is to make healthcare as intuitive and seamless as any other part of life. When patients feel known, supported, and confident in their care—that’s when we’ve succeeded.
We appreciated our conversation with Jeanine and look forward to sharing more insights from healthcare leaders who are shaping the digital future. If you or your organization have an interesting perspective to share, reach out to be featured in our Digital Pulse series.