Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, a major employer of physicians, has made big moves in the last few months:
Here are nine moves since Oct. 1:
1. Kaiser Permanente and Phoenix-based Banner Health are backing a healthcare data company in a $275 million funding round. Kaiser led the Jan. 9 series F investment in Innovaccer that also included M12, Microsoft's venture capital arm.
2. On Jan. 6, resident physicians in Northern California reached a tentative labor contract with Kaiser. The deal covers about 470 resident physicians who are members of the Committee of Interns and Residents, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.
3. On Jan. 2, Habitat Health, launched last year by Kaiser Permanente and healthcare investment firm Town Hall Ventures, opened its first Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) center in Sacramento, Calif.
4. In December, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan walked back on an anesthesia pay change that was implemented in Washington state in November. Under the reversed plan, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington Options would no longer reimburse anesthesia services when submitted without the appropriate modifiers identifying who performed the service. Additionally, the plans reduced QZ services rendered by certified registered nurse anesthetists to 85% of the physician fee schedule.
5. Also in December, Risant Health, part of Kaiser Permanente, completed its acquisition of Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health. The acquisition of the five-hospital system was the second deal Risant closed in 2024. It closed its acquisition of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger in March.
6. Kaiser nearly quadrupled its advanced-care-at-home capacity in the past year. In December, Becker's interviewed Hemali Sudhalkar, MD, national medical director of strategy for Kaiser Permanente's Care at Home program, about how the health system's hospital-at-home initiative, which was already one of the biggest in the country, has continued to grow.
7. Kaiser Permanente Kern County acquired a 13,000-square-foot medical facility in Bakersfield, Calif., to convert into a surgery center. The property previously housed New Horizon Surgical Center and Oaks Surgical Center.
8. In November, Kaiser was named the official healthcare partner and team physicians of the LA Clippers.
9. In October, Kaiser deepened its long-standing relationship with HCA HealthOne, a Denver-based system that includes more than 170 care sites and nine hospitals, to provide additional healthcare access in central Denver.