The 2013 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards in the mid-career category honor Daniel C. Johnson, MD, FAAHMP, national physician lead for palliative care at Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute, as well as director of Palliative Care Innovations and Development at Kaiser Permanente-Colorado and director of the Life Quality Institute in Denver. He is also a physician on the Palliative Care Consult Services at Exempla St. Joseph Hospital in Denver and Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, Co.

Dr. Johnson led the expansion of services at Kaiser Permanente-Colorado, partnering with local organizations to more than quadruple patient and family access to end-of-life care. At the Life Quality Institute, an organization dedicated to advancing palliative care through education, he oversaw the development of its award-winning education program for medical students, residents, and other health professionals.

Dr. Johnson has championed an approach to palliative care that focuses on comprehensive, interdisciplinary team-based support for patients and their loved ones. This team approach, which was evaluated in Kaiser Permanente studies in the hospital, home, and outpatient settings, showed improved quality of care for seriously ill patients on measures that included patient satisfaction, communication, and reduced hospital admissions. Across Kaiser’s eight regions, Dr. Johnson’s leadership has helped to influence universal access to palliative care support in all Kaiser Permanente-affiliated hospitals and rapidly expanded access to palliative support in outpatient settings.
Dr. Johnson received his medical degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1997.