All Brands Owned by Kaiser Permanente

Is Kaiser Permanente a company or a nonprofit?

Kaiser Permanente is a consortium of nonprofit and for-profit entities. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals are nonprofits, while the Permanente Medical Groups are for-profit physician partnerships. The combined organization is treated as the largest nonprofit health system in the United States.

Who owns Kaiser Permanente?

No one owns Kaiser Permanente in the shareholder sense. The nonprofit entities are governed by a board of directors and are legally bound to reinvest earnings in their charitable mission rather than distribute them.

Is Kaiser Permanente publicly traded?

No. Kaiser has no stock. It funds operations through premiums and returns surplus to facilities, technology, and community benefit programs.

What is Risant Health?

Risant Health is a nonprofit subsidiary Kaiser created in 2023 to acquire and operate community health systems. It acquired Geisinger in March 2024 and Cone Health in December 2024, and is included in Kaiser's combined financial reporting.

How many people work for Kaiser Permanente?

Approximately 243,000 employees worked across the combined organization in 2025, plus about 25,500 physicians employed by the Permanente Medical Groups and 78,600 nurses. Kaiser is one of the largest private employers in California.

When was Kaiser Permanente founded?

The organization opened to the public on July 21, 1945, in Oakland, California. Its prepaid care model began in 1933 with Dr. Sidney Garfield's hospital for aqueduct construction workers and expanded under industrialist Henry J. Kaiser during World War II.

Why is Kaiser Permanente called an integrated system?

Kaiser both insures members and delivers their care through its own hospitals and exclusively contracted physician groups. Members pay one premium that covers the full continuum, rather than paying an insurer that reimburses independent providers.