Small nonprofit health systems and hospitals are collapsing nationwide under the strain of the pandemic and their intake communities along with them. Yet in this covid-laden second quarter of 2020, insurer/provider Kaiser Permanente reported net income of $4.5 billion — over double the $2 billion of that quarter last year.
Further comparison quarter-wise: operating revenues went up more than 3% to $22.1 billion, expenses dropped 1.5% to $20 billion —people are scared to go for healthcare, fearing they’ll be infected there— operating income leaped 90% to $2.1 billion, and operating margin hit a nice 9.4% over 5.2% in 2019’s second quarter. (In 2019, KP pulled in $84.5 billion in operating revenue.)
Humorously, KP’s 2019 $7.4billion profit, driven by investments, had nearly tripled compared to 2018 … and then they lost $1.1B on'em the first quarter of 2020, before the pandemic hit. (Anyone puzzled that California had to pass targeted legislation requiring KP to report to the state on its finances more like a profit than nonprofit business need wonder no longer.)
CEO Greg Adams says KP “will do fine” despite the pandemic. And why not, with their for-profit investments and their covered lives totalling 12.4 million as of March 31, including over 85,000 KP employees nationwide.
But how well will those “lives” do? WaPo's 8Oct2020 report on how “US medical supply chains failed, and COVID deaths followed” turns on the story of a KP/Fresno nurse who lost her life because of inadequate PPE on the job.
The bedrock of KP’s profitability is the money those “lives” (“members”) pay, both directly, in the form of co-payments and personal monthly premiums, and indirectly via employer healthcare plans, Medicare, or any other capitations from a “member’s” monthly resources paid to KP, again including from KP employees.
Under pressure from state of California targeted legislation signed by Gov. Newsom September 6, 2019, the KP system pledged to invest it’s 2019 $7.4 billion profit in infrastructure and affordability for its members. Again, members including KP employees. For whom KP could not afford to supply adequate PPE mere months later?
Evidently, it still can’t: October 5, Fontana HeraldNews: “according to the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health...”
...On the county's COVID-19 "Outbreak Summary" page, a list showed that the Kaiser Neuro Step Down Unit had at least one staff member (but less than 11) infected with coronavirus. The specific number of cases was not provided...
Not only can KP not afford PPE for its staff, it couldn’t afford food for them either: April 23, 2020 — Rotary Club of Redwood City pledges weekly donations to feed hospital heroes among other essential workers.
That’s even though, at the end of first quarter 2020, before the pandemic was really rolling—
...[KP] recorded capital spending of $912 million [including] the opening of two new medical offices in Washington state, bringing its total fleet to 714 offices [besides] 39 hospitals and 51 clinics...
KP does a lot of pledging. Just a few examples:
Back in January, they pledged $25million to Gov. Newsom’s California Access to Housing and Services Fund. In February they pledged “$32million to fight housing insecurity in California capital” — Sacramento, where the lobbying is — one single city. In March, KP pledged one million total to partner with organizations in four areas where KP has facilities —2 in California, 1 each in SeattleWA and PortlandOR— to fight COVID-19 among the homeless. In July KP pledged $500,000+ to meal service for its senior members & others in Washington state. In 2019, KP pledged “$2.75mil to study childhood trauma effects” ... funded by the CDC … IOW, apparently KP pledged it would indeed spend on that research the CDC money received for that research. (Which BTW was based on CDC funded research KP did in 1998.). And this September “Kaiser Permanente pledged to give [due] consideration” to “Healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente across the U.S. who
are calling for a “hero bonus” for 85,000 members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions—which makes up about 3% of the payroll [payroll presumably including the C-suite and other KP execs, on down].
Members of the coalition said Kaiser workers have risked their lives and the lives of their families during the pandemic, and many of [them] have been exposed to or infected by COVID-19 as a result and deserve the bonuses. They also said the bonuses are needed to retain staff as workers face the flu season and the pandemic continues.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions represents workers in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Washington state...
Again, this is about fair front-line compensation requested from a billionaire medical business [emphasis added] whose
mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of its members (including employee-members?) and communities it serves…
...said chairman and chief executive officer Greg Adams. “We especially want to acknowledge and thank the courageous and tireless work of all of our care teams and our employees who support them, who together are making such a tremendous difference caring for patients and saving lives every day.”
Will all the pledging and thanking add up to shelling out the full $7.4 billion that KP gained off the backs of its workers and members?
KP May 8, 2020 [emphasis added]
...For the quarter ending March 31, 2020, net loss was ($1.1) billion compared to net income of $3.2 billion in the first quarter of 2019. [KP] reported total operating revenues of $22.6 billion and total operating expenses of $21.4 billion compared to total operating revenues of $21.3 billion and total operating expenses of $19.8 billion in the same period of the prior year.
Operating income was $1.3 billion or 5.5% of total operating revenues in the first quarter of this year, compared to $1.5 billion or 7.2% in the first quarter of 2019.
<big>Total other income and expense, generated largely by investment losses…….</big>
wik: ...Around [1997], The Permanente Company was also chartered as a vehicle to provide investment opportunities for the <big><big>for-profit Permanente Medical Groups.</big></big>[13] One of the ventures of the Permanente Company is Kaiser Permanente Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in emerging medical technologies...[14]
...<small><small>Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has said that </small></small>Kaiser's retained profits are evidence that Kaiser policies are overpriced and that health insurance regulation is needed.[83]
State insurance regulations require that insurers maintain certain minimum amounts of cash reserves to ensure that they are able to meet their obligations; the amount varies by insurer, based on its risk factors, such as its investments, how many people it insures, and other factors; a few states also have caps on how large the reserves can be.[84]
Kaiser has been criticized by activists and state regulators for the [huge] size of its cash reserves. As of 2015, it had $21.7 billion in cash reserves, which was about 1,600% the amount required by California state regulations.[85] Its reserves had been a target of advertising by Consumer Watchdog supporting Proposition 45 in California's 2014 elections.[85]
[KP also operates in Colorado.] At the end of 2010 Kaiser held $666 million in reserves, which was about 1,300% of the minimum required under Colorado state law.[84] Those funds were in Kaiser's risk-based capital account, held to pay for disasters or major projects.[84] In 2008, the Colorado regulator required Kaiser to spend down its reserves; after negotiations Kaiser agreed to spend $155 million of its reserves giving <big>credits to its clients and building clinics in underserved parts of the state.[84]</big>.
….. was ($2.4) billion in the first quarter of this year, compared to $1.6 billion in the same period of the prior year. Historically, the operating margin for the first quarter is our strongest due to the timing of the open enrollment cycle, with lower operating margins typical in the 3 subsequent quarters as expenses tend to increase throughout the year, while revenue stays relatively flat.</b>
While <big>not significant in the quarter, [these results include]</big> operational costs incurred for surge planning, equipment, and preparations in <big>response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic…. </big>
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■
Ordinarily, the first quarter of any year is the most robust for healthcare systems with significant numbers of Medicare clients, because the system is just coming off autumn open enrollment, with a new wave of eligible seniors. After that, margins tend to flatten as revenue stays steady, and expenses usually start to rise with services being used. As both a healthcare provider and an insurer, KP would be a bit insulated from healthcare disasters like this year’s pandemic, because Medicare Advantage, personal/individual and employer group medical plans would still mostly be paying monthly upfront capitated fees, even if elective procedures ebb somewhat. That ebb has hit hard at the end of the first quarter for hospitals, clinics, and private practices that are not combined provider/insurers, as mid-March stay-home orders in many states (March 19, in California) took effect.
..."The coming months pose significant risks to health care organizations of all sizes and varieties," [KP’s new] CEO Greg Adams said. Adams replaced long-time ... CEO Bernard Tyson late last year after Tyson's unexpected death at the age of 60 [amid public inquiry about Tyson’s compensation package and that of others in KP’s C-suite, said to rival the C-suite compensation of some of the biggest for-profit corporations in the US].
IRS filings made available by ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer site showed “medical-care giant” Kaiser Permanente gave Tyson a compensation package —salary, bonus, retirement fund, etc etc— near $16.1million in 2017, nearly a $7mil hike above his
$9.2 million in 2016 from $6 million in 2015 and $4.7 million in 2014. In the same IRS filings, Kaiser states that its mission is to provide "affordable" healthcare services.
— dailykos.com/,,,2019/12/16/1905934/-KaiserPerm-s-900mil-new-HQ
-in-Oakland-new-CEO-amp-December-16-strike-is-ON section 🔷
Adams has worked at Kaiser for 20 years [starting] in 1999 as senior vice president of the Tri-Central service area in Southern California. He went on to hold several high-level titles ... became regional president of Kaiser Permanente for Northern California in April 2008 ... executive vice president in 2013 ... took on the additional role as group president in 2016 [overseeing] operations in all 8 Kaiser Permanente regions [<small>California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington state, Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. capitol area</small>].
He [was also involved in a first-ever healthcare entity financial investment:]
...“June 2013 Golden State Warriors NBA team sponsor Kaiser Permanente becomes naming-rights partner in 3,200-capacity Santa Cruz arena in deal rumored large$t ever for NBA's Developmental League”...
As one of Kaiser's top executives, [Adams] has historically been one of the highest-paid health care leaders in the Bay Area, earning nearly $6.6 million in total compensation last year.
— bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news
...kaisers-new-ceo-greg-adams.html
[see this diary , section 🔷 for an interesting comparison with for-profit healthcare top-job compensation.]
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.
[KP] membership grew 194,000 since December — total covered lives 12.4 million as of March 31.
Last year pledging<big>under state of California pressure</big> to put its $7.4 billion profits into infrastructure and affordability for members, KP recorded $912 million capital spending in the quarter, including opening 2 new medical offices in Washington state — totalling nationally 714. Plus 39 hospitals & 51 clinics...
...KP scuttled the $900million Oakland HQ build* in March due to delays and rising costs.
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* There doesn’t seem to be readily available information on dollar losses from that abandoned $900million HQ project, but likely this figures in KP’s total $1.1billion investment losses in the first quarter of 2020. Lane Partners was the developer for that project, which would have made Oakland even more a Kaiser Permanante company town) was to acquire seven KP sites for itself, and had made donations to the successful campaigns of the Mayor and a councilmember prior to key council votes. dailykos.com … strike-is-ON Section 🔷 🔷 🔷
In theory, the 29-storey HQ would [have] cut KP operational costs by [over] $60 million a year [by consolidating over 7,000 national and regional headquarters physicians and staff] from seven sites in Northern California, but would not] provide wide-spectrum medical services (why then all those physicians?), although it “may” include
a health clinic, community meeting spaces, a showplace for locally-inspired art, and other benefits for the community [that might locally] create jobs, and drive economic growth...
and
<big>85,000 square feet of retail space. </big>
The project would encompass the entire block and require demolishing … other buildings on Broadway [including other businesses and workplaces].
[An alternative] proposed by the developers … would include less office space ... but add 395 units of housing.
...the deal comes on the eve of a planned one-day<big> strike by Kaiser Permanente therapists in San Francisco, who say that [KP’s] mental health care is worsening… that staffing has declined while demand for services has increased.</big>
[KP] workers at the meeting questioned why [KP] could afford a new headquarters but not better care for its patients.
Some councilmembers expressed empathy for the plight of the workers [patient plight apparently unmentioned], but pointed out that <big>Kaiser was not constructing the building and had only committed to use it</big>...
■ ■
</big>...The plan was scuttled roughly eight months after it was first announced…
"Delays and increasing costs related to this project caused us to reexamine the feasibility and focus on renovating our current buildings," Kaiser officials said in a statement. "The decision is not related to COVID-19."
As of Wednesday morning [May 6, JohnsHopkins’ COVID-19 DASHBOARD reported that] California had more than 2,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19. KP, the largest employer in Oakland, now plans to stay in its existing offices.
The [project] was expected to be completed in 2023 [and] result in roughly $23 million in [local and state] taxes and fees and another $15 million in [taxes annually].
The not-for-profit almost tripled its net income in 2019, raking in $7.4 billion [from investments] as tax-exempt healthcare providers face increased regulatory scrutiny for mounting profits...
<big>On August 27, 2019 CBS/SanFranciscoBay reported from AP a <big>Bill Targeting Kaiser Permanente Financial Disclosures Heads To Gov. Newsom’s Desk
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Hospital giant Kaiser Permanente would have to disclose more financial information about its hospitals under a bill that has cleared the California Legislature.
The state Senate approved a bill on Monday that would require Kaiser Permanente to disclose revenue and profits for each hospital individually. Right now, Democratic Sen. Richard Pan says the company lumps the numbers together into two categories for its hospitals in Northern California and Southern California.
...Pan said the bill would force Kaiser Permanente to follow the same financial disclosure requirements as other hospitals.</big>
— dailykos.com/.../2019/12/16/1905934/-KaiserPerm-s-900mil-
new-HQ-in-Oakland-new-CEO-amp-December-16-strike-is-ON</big>
[Under that pressure] Kaiser pledged to invest in infrastructure, while keeping an eye on affordability, at a time when other hospitals struggle with shrinking margins brought on by flagging inpatient admissions and flat-lining reimbursements.
Last year, Kaiser opened 17 new medical offices [and by] the end of the 2019 fiscal year, the system had 95 additional offices in some stage of construction or design that are slated to be finished in the next five years. The 39-hospital health system has a multi-year plan to invest $700 million in opening or renovating 220 locations dedicated to mental health care...
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after literally over a decade of patient lawsuits, and strikes and other actions by KP mental healthcare professionals and support staffs:
December 16 [2019] strike is on.
<big>Four thousand Kaiser mental health workers across California will go on strike Monday for five days, highlighting an unresolved labor issue for the health giant even after it agreed a new contract with other portions of its workforce.</big>
Kaiser has been in negotiations with its mental health workers, who are represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, or NUHW, since June 2018. The union postponed a strike scheduled for Nov. 11 after Kaiser’s Chairman and CEO Bernard Tyson died the day before. Greg Adams was named to fill both positions Dec. 10.
Workers and their union say that the strike centers on what they say is Kaiser’s inability to fully integrate mental health care into its health system. This has led to months-long waits for patient appointments and what mental health workers call overwhelming caseloads….
—Bizjournals.com Dec. 13, 2019
Of overarcing concern, <big>workplace violation records with roughly $39million in penalties on KP</big> the past decade in California alone, the staggering revenues KP takes in, staggering compensation packages for executives, and huge investments in real-estate, while front-line staff remains at levels inadequate to meet patient needs.
■ ■ ■
Patient safety advocates and other critics widely insist that struggling hospitals deserve more federal funding than nonprofit systems with large endowments and investments, and other big systems that planned poorly for viral emergencies despite over a decade of warnings from science. Kaiser Permanente ranks 6th out of the top 20 in investments, with $8 billion.
An analysis for USA TODAY by OpenTheBooks.com [ranking] the 20 nonprofit hospitals [by investments reported those investments totalling over $116 billion] including endowments [yet] failed [on] basic emergency planning...
"Many [can] reprogram or redirect funds," said Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of Open the Books, a nonprofit transparency advocacy group. "They need to explain ... why they have or have not done so."
The first $30 billion in COVID-19 hospital [bailouts] was based on Medicare billings, so those 20 nonprofit systems ... were among the [ones getting] the biggest share.
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The next $22 billion went to rural hospitals and those hardest pandemic-hit, meeting some of the criticism about rewarding poor-planning wealthy tax-exempt hospitals, but nearly $50 billion more is about to be divvied up...
"The money ... comes off the backs of American workers, over 10% [now] unemployed," says Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins University public health professor, patient safety advocate and author. "Hospitals needing it should be prioritized, not [the billion-dollar endowed ones with] large cash reserves that provide little charity care"…
...Open the Books updated its 2019 analysis of govt payments and assets of the 82 largest nonprofit hospitals [finding[ net assets for the top 20 systems rose from $172.6 billion [in 2017-2018] to $183.7 billion 2018-2019, an increase of $11.1 billion and [year-over-year] more than 6%….
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Without commenting directly on whether KP would tap reserves, the treasurer of Kaiser Foundation Hospital and Health Plan —KP’s insurance arm— said CARES Act funds would promote KP stability and be critical in ”how we can continue to operate and deliver care during this unprecedented time." He said the funding won't cover all KP's costs, which it will manage accordingly.
As if CARES bailout money ought to pay again what KP “members” already pay for.
■ ■ ■ ■
Expanding upon one modest area of KP’s investment activity:
HealthcareFinance - Sept 2019
— ...Many health systems are tackling homelessness to improve health outcomes and reduce utilization of the emergency room and readmissions. [But] “It's not just around addressing the needs for high-risk patients … Staff has trouble finding housing."
...the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners … works with many health systems, and in January [with KP] launched [a Greater Bay area project] to develop a housing equity fund [for affordable housing developers to buy up existing buildings and keep them because] there's little land left to build on [from scratch].
In the past, the classification of affordable housing units lasted typically 15 years [and then] tenants are displaced as the units are then sold as million dollar condos at the going market rate.
The partnership helped fund the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, which has existed for decades, in keeping a 41-unit apartment complex in East Oakland on the edge of a gentrified neighborhood. The corporation agreed to keep it affordable for 20-30 years [before tenants are displaced and the units sold at going market rate]….
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And the definition of “affordable housing”, as to what income level it takes to afford them, can be fluid, depending upon who’s using the term in what context. This week, according to USNews&WorldReport, Dr. Bechara Choucair, senior vice president and chief health officer at KP, said they have
“invested some $200 million in affordable housing efforts, particularly in California. ... you "carve out a portion of these dollars and invest them in projects that not only would give you a financial return on investment, but will actually give you social return on investment,"
— not a new concept, but the question again is whether investing for even a bit of financial return is going to be accounted as part of the $7.4billion profit that KP was in-effect forced to pledge.
This is a pseudo-nonprofit healthcare providing with a documented history of ■ not providing it to patient-groups and individuals too vulnerable to enforce their right to the quality of safety and care their “membership” commits KP to ■ using putative non-profit status to short many classes of employees on safe working conditions, adequate pay, and fair job security — professional, technical, clerical and skilled laborer alike ■ and of using that status to evade legal scrutiny and obscure corporate-magnitude investing, the most notable beneficiaries appearing to be its top tiers of executives and administrators and the investment arm itself, just as overt, unabashed fully-for-profit billion-dollar businesses of all kinds do.
The legislation signed by California’s governor in September requires, among other stringencies, that
...Kaiser will have to break out expenses and revenue for each of its facilities; break out revenue by type of payor (Medicare, Medi-Cal or private insurance) at each facility; and break out rate increases by type of service (hospital, physician services, pharmacy, radiology and laboratory)...
This follows Colorado’s example in holding KP more accountable to some of the communities and patient groups it has profitted from.
But even though these states comprise the vast majority of all KP patients and employees. others among the 8 KP regions are held more hostage through limited ability to choose other options. One cluster of those regions circles around the very well-served national capitol area — collaborators in privilege rather than hostages?
In this pandemic disaster, KP members may well owe every debt of gratitude to frontline KP healthcare workers (the 85,000 who are also members themselves), just as some KP members may also owe that debt to individual providers who always come through for them. This is also true virtually everywhere in the world that healthcare is provided.
That has no bearing, however, on the genuine nature of a healthcare business, nor the culpability and responsibilities of its administration, management, and executives.
We can only do justice to the dedication of healthcare workers if we hold their billion-dollar bosses to account. For the workers’ sake, and for all our own.
Cumulative source list:
Some of the backstory in dk diaries:
- November 13, 2019 KaiserPermanente Class Action Settlement on Mental Health Patients Who Were Forced into Medi-Cal/Medicaid
- September 25, 2019 KaiserPerm & Coalition of Unions Reach Tentative Agreement: Oct.14 Strike Averted Pending Vote
- September 10, 2019 As Unions' Public Approval Rises … KaiserPerm Nat'l Strike Looms
- and other diaries by various kosaks at the KaiserPermanente tag
Bibliography:
- fontanaheraldnews.com — Oct 5, 2020 — staff member at Kaiser Permanente facility in Fontana tests positive for COVID-19, county says
- National Union of Healthcare Workers/NUHW.org— September 2020 Hospital Corporation Government Bailout Tally update.
- florence-health.com/ — Sep 29, 2020 — Health is the heart of the economy: KP pledges to consider ‘hero bonus” asked by KP Unions in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Washington state
- beckershospitalreview.com — Sep 28, 2020 — Coalition of KP worker unions seek 'hero bonus' for 85,000 members
- mauinews.com — Sep 25, 2020 — Contrary to union contracts Kaiser shutdown of gastrointestinal and ambulatory surgeries at clinic costs workers jobs & patients some access: services being transferred to operating rooms at Maui Memorial Medical Center, operated by a Kaiser affiliate, despite <big><big>↷</big></big>
- https://wa-business.kaiserpermanente.org/kaiser-permanente-CARES-act-funding/ including $11.8 million for Maui Health System, a nonprofit subsidiary of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.
- dailyrecordnews.com — Sep 23, 2020 — Kittitas Valley Healthcare, Kittitas County, Washington’s only hospital, terminates contract vith KP effect July 2021 after years of difficulties for its members.
- opensecrets.org - the Center for Responsive Politics — 2020 — Lobbying Firm Profile: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan: Federal Bills Lobbied by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, 2020
- Healthcaredive.com — Aug 10, 2020 — Kaiser Permanente reports $4.5B in net income, joining other operators in large Q2 increases
- queenannenews.com — July 22, 2020 — KP pledges $500,000+ to meal service for it senior members & other seniors in Washington state.
- Healthcaredive.com — June 23, 2020 — 2nd in a series examining the bailout funds health systems received amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- World Socialist Web Site.org — Jun 15, 2020 — Nurses outraged over US hospital chain bailouts, layoffs and bloated CEO pay
- NewYorkTimes — Jun 8, 2020 — Dozens of top recipients of government aid have laid off, furloughed or cut the pay of tens of thousands of employees while paying CEOs millions.
- bizjournals.com/sanfranciscobusinesstimes — Jun 5, 2020 — Greg Adams, CEO, KP
- JOHNS HOPKINS.edu COVID-19 DASHBOARD
- kff.org (not affiliated with KaiPerm) — May 13, 2020 — hospitals serving wealthier patients have received far more funding than those that treat low-income patients
- HealthcareDive.com — May 11, 2020 — Kaiser reports $1.1B net loss in Q1 due to stock market slide
- USAToday — May 10/11, 2020 — Rich hospitals, poor safety plans leading up to coronavirus: Should rules change for them now?
- ColeMarketResearch — May 11, 2020 — Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Recent Edition of Pension Insurance Market 2020 | Key Companies Overview- UnitedHealthcare, Allianz, Kaiser Permanente, MetLife,CNP Assurances, PICC, ICICI Prulife , Ping An, China Life
- May 8, 2020 — Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals Q1 2020 Financia UPDATE with mission comment and thanks to its workers.
- HealthcareDive.com — Mar 25, 2020 — Kaiser Permanente shelves $900M headquarters build
- modernhealthcare.com — Mar 16, 2020 — KP Pledges $1million to treat homeless for COVID-19
- kff.org/policy-watch — Mar 31, 2020 — A Look at the $100 Billion for Hospitals in the $2trillion CARES Act
- climaterwc.com — Apr 23, 2020 — Rotary Club of Redwood City pledges weekly donations to feed hospital heroes & community essential workers.
- kff.org — Apr 9, 2020 — The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: Summary of Key Health Provisions
- verywellhealth.com — Feb 23, 2020 — Healthcare Capitation
- beckershospitalreview.com/ — Feb 20, 2020 — KP pledges $32m to fight housing insecurity in Sacramento, California’s state capital.
- fontanaheraldnews.com — Jan 18, 2020 — KP pledges $25million to help state homeless project.
- www.prnewswire.com — jan 17, 2020 — KP pledges $25m to governor’s California Housing fund
- beckershospitalreview.com/ — Jan 16, 2020 — [1] KP $200million Thriving Communities Fund buys $5.2mil housing complex near its Oakland HQ [2] KP & Enterprise Community Partners launch $100 million loan fund for affordable housing [3] KP & community partners announce effort for housing & services for 500 over-age-50 chronically ill Oakland denizens.
- fiercehealthcare.com — Jan 9, 2020 — Per the 2019 labor agreement reached by KP and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), new joint nonprofit Futuro Health created to train and graduate 10,000 new licensed and credentialed allied health workers in California by 2024.
- SanFranciscoCBS — Dec 17, 2019 — Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Workers Strike For 2nd Day
- BizJournals.com — Dec 13, 2019 — 4,000 California Kaiser mental health workers will strike Monday
- BizJournals.com — Dec 11/13, 2019 — 5 things to know about Kaiser's new CEO Greg Adams
- HealthcareDive.com — Dec 11, 2019 — Kaiser interim chief Greg Adams named full-time CEO
- Cision PR Newswire — Ded 5, 2019 Kaiser Permanente Ventures closes Fund V with $141 million in total capital
- beckershospitalreview.com — Oct 9, 2019 — Kaiser Permanente pledges $2.75M to study childhood trauma effects
- Oct 2019 About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study and www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fundedresearch.html
- HealthcareDive.com — Sept 25, 2019 — Kaiser strike called off as company, unions reach tentative agreement
- opb.org — Sept 27, 2019 — Biggest Strike US Has Seen In Years Poised To Hit Kaiser Permanente
- HealthcareFinanceNews.com — Sept 16, 2019 — Kaiser Permanente and Enterprise are investing in affordable housing — referencing HealthcarefinanceNews.com — July 5, 2018 — ROI from social determinants investment inc’g housing homeless patients.
- HealthcareDive.com — Sept 13, 2019 — Colorado union votes to strike at Kaiser, bringing 'yes' votes nationwide to 42K
- goodjobsfirst.org VIOLATION TRACKER: 57 KP workplace violation records and $38,657,920 in penalties on KP between 2000 and Sept 2018.
- HealthcareDive.com — Sept 6, 2019 — Starting in 2020, profit-soaring Kaiser loses California non-profit privilege of minimal expense & revenue breakdown. Another bill, requiring nonprofit health systems to report more on executive and physician compensation is wending its way thru’ state legislature.
- SacramentoBee — Sept 6, 2019 — Newsom signs [bill requiring Kaiser to disclose more financial data] — consumer group Health Access California, SEIU and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, and business groups such as Small Business Majority were among other supporters of the bill. “..As part of the legislation, Kaiser will have to break out expenses and revenue for each of its facilities; break out revenue by type of payor (Medicare, Medi-Cal or private insurance) at each facility; and break out rate increases by type of service (hospital, physician services, pharmacy, radiology and laboratory).
“We think it’s an important transparency measure,” said Anthony Wright, the executive director of Health Access California. “Right now, we do require rate review of our insurers, and Kaiser has had a fairly broad exemption from much of the rate review processes that other insurers have to follow, and what this bill does is fairly simple. It ensures Kaiser is providing the same types of information justifying their rates as other health insurers have to do...”
- California Senate Bill 343 — Sept 5, 2019 — Health care data disclosure: California state insurance code amendments.
- NW Labor Presss.org — Sept 5, 2019 — Massive Kaiser Permanente strike could come in October
- American Prospect — Sept 3, 2019 — Kaiser Hospital Workers Mobilize for Largest Strike in Two Decades
- HealthcareDive.com — Aug. 29, 2019 — Kaiser Permanente workers are set to strike. Does it mark a new trend?
- CBSNews — Aug. 27, 2019 — Bill Targeting Kaiser Permanente Financial Disclosures Heads To Gov. Newsom’s Desk
- cpr.org — Aug 26, 2019 — If Kaiser Permanente Votes To Strike, Thousands Of Workers Would Walk Out From The Colorado Health Care Giant
- San Diego Reader — 26 August 2019 — Kaiser to face largest strike anywhere in 20 years — Unions claim company made $5.2 billion in profits the first 6 months of 2019.
- danilfineman.com — Aug 22, 2019 — Kaiser mortgage to rehab Metropolis Heights reasonably priced houses
- LA Times — Aug 12, 2019 — Kaiser Permanente workers in California vote to approve strike
- HealthcareDive.com — Aug 12, 2019 [2nd quarter of 2019] KP net income $2 billion, up from 2018 2nd Qtr $653 million.
- Medscape — August 2, 2019 — Docs Get Tiny Raises While Nonprofit Healthcare CEOs get >$10M
- Wikipedia — KaiserPermanente as of July 2019.
- ABCNews — July 20, 2019 Oakland City Council approves $28mill sale to KP of public parking garage
- Forbes — Jul 12, 2019 — 85,000 KP Health Workers Threaten Strike
- ABCNews — July 10, 2019 — Kaiser mental health workers strike in San Francisco, demand more staffing for patients
- ABC7 — July 10, 2019 — Oakland approves sale of city-owned [public] garage for Kaiser HQ
- Medscape — July 5, 2019 — Are Exorbitant Corporate Salaries in Healthcare Unethical?
- SanFranciscoChronicle — June 23, 2019 — KaiserPerm deal for Warriors arena plaza & Chase Center area to be renamed “Thrive City” could hit $295 million.
- HealthcareDive.com — June 18, 2019 — Kaiser Permanente announces new headquarters in California
- Modern Healthcare — June 17, 2019 — $900million New KP HQ in Oakland
- Kaiser Permanente.org — Local ‘markets’ and other “Fast Facts” as of June 2019.
- ABCNews — March 11, 2019 — Family speaks out after grandfather told he’s dying by KP doctor video robot.
- HealthcareDive.com — [First quarter of 2019] KP net income nearly $3.2 billion compared with about $1.2 billion the prior-year period [following open enrollment seasons].
- search — Jan-Aug 2019 RxHomeFund/ThrivingCommunities/...
- HeathcareDive.com — [First half of 2018] KP posted nearly $40billion in revenue
- National Union of Health Workers — January 7, 2019 Chronology: Kaiser Permanente’s Mental Health Crisis
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer 2019 — Form 990, Schedule J for KP Fiscal Year Ending Dec 2017.
- goodjobsfirst.org WORKPLACE VIOLATION TRACKER - 56 workplace violatIon records and $37,757,920 in penalties on KP, 2000 - 2018.
- ABCNews -- December 20, 2018 — Thousands of KP’s unionized mental health workers make arrangements to meet patient needs for the week before walking out on strike.
- ModernHealthcare.com — Dec 20, 2018 — KP settles in 2014 patient class action lawsuit.
- TheBusinessJournals.com — Nov 14, 2018 — Hospitals and health systems with highest-paid leaders…
- ABCNews — September 3, 2018 — Over 1,000 Kaiser employees and their unions and supporters marched in Oakland to protest planned job cuts and outsourcing.
- HealthcareDive.com — Aug. 24, 2018 — KP reported $39.9billion in operating revenue for the first six months of 2018
- HealthcareDive.com — April 30, 2018 — 55,000 member SEIU-UHW protests KP layoffs & outsourcing of pharmacy warehouse & call center operations.
- ABCNews — September 18, 2017 — Kaiser nurses rally for better resources for patients at 21 California locations as contract end approaches and negotiations drag on.
- HealthcareDive.com — August 31, 2017 — NorthBay Healthcare’s 2nd Lawsuit vs Kaiser Permanente for underpayment on Emergency Department care.
- ABCNews -- July 12, 2015 — Thousands of Kaiser mental health professionals strike for better resouces after 5 years of contract negotiations fail to remedy dearth from increased patient ‘memberships’.
- medscape.com — July 5, 2017 — Despite three warnings and a multimillion-dollar fine a few years ago, Kaiser Permanente still fails to provide members with appropriate access to mental health care,
- Los Angeles Daily News — March 26, 2015 — CalState Student wins $28.2mil KP lawsuit for negligence causing loss of leg, half pelvis & parts of spine.
- opensecrets.org — Center for Responsive Politics — 2015 — Lobbying Firm Profile: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan: Federal Bills Lobbied in 2015
- medscape.com — Feb 25, 2015 — For 2nd time in 2 years, the state of California faults HMO giant KP on failing access to patients for mental health care
- ABCNews — Jan 26, 2015 — KaiserPerm averts strike by tentative agreement w/ California Nurses Association/National Nurses United for 18,000 employees’ 3-year contract: “...The nurses claimed Kaiser was cutting back on its patient care standards by decreasing hospital services, making restrictions on admitting patients for hospital care and discharging patients early though they needed further hospitalization, according to the CNA.
“[Also] that Kaiser provided them with insufficient resources, equipment and training that put nurses and patients at risk.”
- PressDemocrat — January 10, 2015 — Kaiser braces for strike Monday by mental health clinicians
- topclassactions.com — Sept 11, 2014 — Class Action Suit alleges KP tells guardians of psychiatric patient ‘members’ they can only receive care if they cancel KP insurance/“membership & get covered by Medicare & Medi-Cal
- Medscape - April 3, 2013 — California Dept of Managed Health Care (DMHC) cites Kaiser Permanente in mental health service cover-up
- sportspromedia.com — June 13, 2012 — Golden State Warriors NBA team sponsor Kaiser Permanente becomes naming-rights partner in 3,200-capacity Santa Cruz arena in deal rumored largest ever for NBA's Developmental League.
- HuffingtonPost — November 14, 2011 — Kaiser Permanente Makes Billions In Profits While Overburdening Staff: Report “Kaiser Permanente has made an estimated $5.7 billion in profit since 2009.”
- AMA Journal of Ethics — January 2009 — elderly woman suffering from dementia off by Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center at Union Rescue Mission, an organization that serves the needy and homeless, in nothing but a hospital gown
- npr.org — November 2006 — Kaiser Faces Charges for [literally] Dumping Homeless Patient [on skid row].
- kaiserthrive.org — April 2006 — Kaiser Permanente sued for lack of disabled accommodations.
- kaiserthrive.org — March 2006 — Patient Dumping on skid row said caught on tape.
- lmpartnership.org — 1997 Labor Management Partnership Agreement between Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions