Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is a not-for-profit comprehensive and integrated health care provider based in Oakland, California. The organization was founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield.

Today, Kaiser Permanente operates in nine states and the District of Columbia, and is the largest non-profit health maintenance organization in the United States, with: 8.3 million health plan members, 134,000 employees, 11,000 physicians, 30 medical centers, 431 medical offices, and annual operating revenues of $22.5 billion.

Structure

Since 1955, Kaiser Permanente has been organized into three distinct organizations:

Kaiser Foundation Health Plans works with employers, employees, and individual members to offer prepaid health plans. (Not-for-profit.)

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals operates medical centers in three states and outpatient facilities throughout Kaiser Permanente's footprint. (Not-for-profit.)

Permanente Medical Groups is an association of Kaiser Permanente's physicians. (For-profit.)

Kaiser Permanente is also divided into 8 regions:

• California - Northern
• California - Southern
• Colorado
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Mid-Atlantic (vicinity of Washington, D.C. including Maryland and Virginia)
• Northwest (Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington)
• Ohio

History

The history of Kaiser Permanente dates to 1933 in Desert Center, California. There, Garfield opened the Contractors General Hospital, with a total of twelve beds, to treat construction workers building the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the Mojave Desert. The hospital was in a precarious financial state, fueled by Garfield's desire to treat all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Harold Hatch, an insurance agent, proposed that the insurance companies pay the hospital a total amount, in advance, for each worker covered. The financial relationship between the insurance companies and the hospital was efficient, and allowed Garfield to focus on a new idea: preventative health care.

Intrigued by the concept developed by Hatch and Garfield in the Mojave Desert, Kaiser persuaded Garfield to open a prepaid practice for his construction workers building the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state, in 1938. Coverage was later made available to the families of the workers.

In 1942, Garfield again worked with Kaiser to establish health plans for workers and families at shipyards in San Francisco, California and Vancouver, Washington, and at a steel mill in Fontana, California, all operations managed by Kaiser. In 1945, membership in the health plans were opened to the public. However, in 1946, the shipyards closed, with membership dropping to 25,000, from a height of 200,000.

Between 1952 and 1955, membership doubled to 500,000, as Kaiser Permanente worked with union leaders to extend healthcare to all unionized employees. The organization also clarified its organization structure, which is relatively unchanged today.

By 1958, Kaiser Permanente expanded beyond its existing three regions in Northern California, Southern California, and Oregon, to Hawaii. Fueled by growth in each of these four regions, membership reached one million in 1963.

Membership doubled to two million by 1968, and a year later two new regions were developed in Colorado and Ohio. Nine years later, in 1976, membership reached three million.

In 1977, four years after the signing of the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, all six of Kaiser Permanente's regions became federally-qualified HMOs.

In 1980, Kaiser Permanente acquired a non-profit group practice to create the Mid-Atlantic region, encompassing the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. A year later, membership reached four million.

In 1985, Kaiser Permanente began operations in Georgia, creating its eighth region. Two years later, membership hit five million.

In 1995, the organization celebrated its fiftieth year of offering public health plans. Two years later, membership reached nine million.

In 1997, the organization established an agreement with the AFL-CIO to provide for a more positive relationship between management and labor.

In 1999, a number of groups sued the organization over its “In the Hands of Doctors” advertising campaign. The groups charged that doctors were not fully in control of decisionmaking, or that they were persuaded to limit care with financial bonuses. Kaiser Permanente pulled the ads, and in 2003 agreed to settle the claims by publicly publishing the guidelines under which its doctors make patient-care decisions.

In 2004, Kaiser Permanente launched a broad campaign titled “Thrive.” The television, radio, billboard, print, and web campaign focuses on one of the missions of the organization, preventative care. The television and radio spots feature voiceovers from actress Allison Janney. The campaign is the first since the organization pulled its “In the Hands of Doctors” campaign.

In 2004, Kaiser Permanente coupled its integrated care delivery system with a deductible health insurance plan for the first time in its history.

In 2005, Kaiser Permanente introduced the first combined credit card and health insurance membership card to its members in Colorado and Hawaii.

External links

• Kaiser Permanente (http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/) web site