Donald Palmer, MD

Since becoming the hospital’s Assistant Physician-in-Chief and Chief of Staff in 1996, Donald Palmer, MD, has been a driving force behind the care and service improvements which make Walnut Creek’s hospital the best in the community.

The trust and relationships Dr. Palmer built with Kaiser Foundation Hospital leadership have been profoundly productive in facilitating many initiatives to improve quality of care: the use of hospital-based specialists, development of a “winter plan” to make more hospital beds available for emergent medical admissions, and the coordination of surgical services following the merger of the Walnut Creek and Martinez medical centers.

To facilitate delivery of emergent coronary interventions for patients with acute myocardial infarction, Dr. Palmer led the collaboration between interventional services from Cardiology, Radiology, and Vascular Surgery in Walnut Creek. Making these services available locally was possible only if the interventional groups would agree to share equipment and facilities, which they did, due to Dr Palmer’s guidance and diplomacy.

Currently, Dr. Palmer is helping develop and implement a Patient Scheduling program at Walnut Creek that could revolutionize coordination of care and communication with members and their families – yet another effort on behalf of the hospital he continues to serve.