Kaiser Permanente (/ˈkaɪzər pɜːrməˈnɛnteɪ/; KP) is an integrated managed care consortium, based

in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and
physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Permanente is made up of three distinct but interdependent
groups of entities: the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (KFHP) and its regional operating
subsidiaries; Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and the regional Permanente Medical Groups. As of
2017, Kaiser Permanente operates in eight states (Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California,
Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia) and the District of Columbia, and is the largest managed
careorganization in the United States.
As of October 2017, Kaiser Permanente had 11.7 million health plan members, 208,975 employees,
21,275 physicians, 54,072 nurses, 39 medical centers, and 720 medical facilities.[2] As of December
31, 2016, the non-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals entities
reported a combined $1.9 billion in net income on $64.6 billion in operating revenues.[1] Each
Permanente Medical Group operates as a separate for-profit partnership or professional corporation
in its individual territory, and while none publicly reports its financial results, each is primarily funded
by reimbursements from its respective regional Kaiser Foundation Health Plan entity. KFHP is one of
the largest not-for-profit organizations in the United States.
KP's quality of care has been highly rated and attributed to a strong emphasis on preventive care, its
doctors being salaried rather than paid on a fee-for-service basis, and an attempt to minimize the
time patients spend in high-cost hospitals by carefully planning their stay. However, Kaiser has had
disputes with its employees' unions, repeatedly faced civil and criminal charges for falsification of
records and patient dumping, faced action by regulators over the quality of care it provided,
especially to patients with mental health issues, and has faced criticism from activists and action
from regulators over the size of its cash reserves.