Dr. Diana Bontá directs Kaiser Permanente's public policy agenda for Southern California. Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, group practice prepayment program headquartered in Oakland, CA. The Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region has more than 3.1 million members. They are cared for by the 3,600 physicians of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) and 47,300 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals and medical group employees. The Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region is served by 11 major medical centers. Her responsibilities include community benefit, community relations, government relations, grant management, corporate communications, media relations and multi-media activities.
Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Bontá was with the California Department of Health Services. During her tenure at DHS, she enhanced preparedness for potential bioterrorism, including the smallpox vaccination program and the California Health Alert Network. She designed California's anti-fraud initiative (now being replicated nationally), established the nation’s first hospital nurse-to-patient ratios, restructured the state's Vital Records system, and created a model pharmacy discount program for seniors. She was responsible for a $32 billion budget and a staff of 6,000. Under her leadership one million children were added to California’s MediCal and Healthy Families programs. Another 130,000 received coverage through the new Child Health and Disability Prevention Gateway program during the first three months of its operation. She also led the California DHS participation in the California Campaign to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, a statewide public/private sector initiative to raise awareness about health disparities and advance systematic change that will improve health outcomes for all Californians.
Prior to her state position, Dr. Bontá was the Director of Health and Human Services for the City of Long Beach. She participates on a wide range of state and national governance and advisory boards and holds a number of awards and honors, including the American Public Health Association, Presidential Citation Award; California Women's Law Center, Annual Pursuit of Justice Award; Hispanic Magazine, 100 Leading Latinas; and the UCLA School of Public Health, Inaugural Induction into the Alumni Hall of Fame. She is currently an adjunct associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health. She began her career as a registered nurse and is a graduate of State University of New York at Buffalo which recently honored her with its Distinguished Alumni Award. She earned her doctoral and master’s degrees from the UCLA School of Public Health.