Kaiser Permanente's organizational structure and healthcare service delivery model

Kaiser

Organizational Overview: Kaiser Permanente

Healthcare organizations come in many forms, and with every passing year some old organizations fade away while new ones come to take their place. The most stalwart of these organizations can persist for many decades however, if not longer, and can grow to substantial sizes providing a very broad range and extensive scope of healthcare services. Understanding how the network of healthcare organizations and service providers works can best be accomplished by examining some of these long-standing organizations as they are often exemplars of what works best for the healthcare system overall as well individual healthcare organizations. The following pages will present an overview of one large and long-standing healthcare organization in an attempt to illuminate the concerns and capabilities of such an organization operating within the modern United States healthcare system.

Kaiser Permanente: A Description

The current state of Kaiser Permanente's development and the scope of services it provides, not to mention the overriding philosophy of its operation, is very much rooted in the company's origins. During the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct at the height of the Great Depression, Dr. Sidney Garfield constructed a hospital to care for sick and injured worker (Kaiser Permanente 2011). After experiencing major problems receiving timely payments from insurance companies and patients, a prepayment system that essentially amounted to insurance premiums was instituted, with great financial and care success (Kaiser Permanente 2011).

Officially founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanent has grown into one of the largest not-for=profit healthcare organizations in the country, with almost nine million total members nationwide and revenue well over thirty billion dollars annually as of 2006 (Kaiser Permanente 2011; Colliver 2006). Kaiser offers prepaid health plans through the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan structure, which is a not-for-profit organization, and provides care through the Permanente Medical Groups -- physician-owned for-profit groups that receive the vast majority of their funding from the Kaiser Health Plan Foundation (Kaiser Permanente 2011). In this way, Kaiser Permanente replaces (or in some cases supplements) traditional health insurance plans, providing both the care and the payment for services all under the umbrella of one over-arching organization. This can create savings for consumers as well as leading to more physician-directed care that promotes ongoing health and well-being rather than the treatment of illnesses and symptoms (Kaiser Permanente 2011).

Services Offered

The basic services offered by Kaiser Permanente were outlined above, but a more detailed look at these services is necessary to come to a true understanding of the organization. Essentially, the company offers both an insurance-like pre-payment program for medical care and it is connected to (though it does not technically operate) physicians' groups that provide care paid for by the pre-payment (Kaiser Permanente 2011). The company also directly operates hospitals in some regions, which provide non-profit care to members (Kaiser Permanente 2011).

When it comes to the medical services that Kaiser Permanente provides, the list is basically all-encompassing of anything anyone might want to seek medical attention or advice for. Kaiser Permanente offers a wide variety of healthy lifestyle programs, and members can seek the advice of nutritionists, some alternative medicine practitioners, physical therapists, and a hose of other specialists in addition to primary and acute care physicians (Kaiser Permanente 2011). There isn't a standard medical service that Kaiser Permanente does not offer in some fashion, and though the Kaiser Foundation does not operate hospitals in every region the company as a whole does have the capabilities to provide hospital care to all of its members (Kaiser Permanente 2011). The very concept of the organization was as a full-service establishment that provides everything individuals need to lead healthy lives while also taking care of the payment system, and this is stil what the company strives for.

Conclusion

Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the country, and also operates on a very different model from many other healthcare organizations. The success the company has seen suggest ways for the healthcare industry as a whole to make adjustments, which makes the company an excellent one to examine. The efficiency, totality of care, and integration of all aspects of the organization make it both an unusual and an exciting healthcare organization in the modern world. Even without switching to such an integrated system, all healthcare organizations could do well to be more like Kaiser.