Profile of the Kaiser Permanente Health Plans

Kaiser Permanente is a group practice model health maintenance organization (HMO), with all its established regions being federally qualified under the HMO Act of 1973. Kaiser Permanente is comprised of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, which owns and operates hospitals, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., which arranges member prepaid services, and the Permanente Medical Groups, partnerships or corporations of physicians who provide professional services. After originally being based in California and Oregon/Washington, Kaiser Permanente is expanding in various regions around the country.