The story of Kaiser Permanente is a history of excellence, a legacy of each generation's contribution to understanding health and meeting the needs of members. By focusing on members' needs, the people of Kaiser Permanente built the largest nonprofit health care organization* in American history.

Kaiser Permanente evolved from industrial health care programs for construction, shipyard and steel mill workers during World War II. Its founders were Sidney Garfield, M.D. and Henry J. Kaiser who became partners in advancing the concept of pre-paid health care.

Today, we are the largest nonprofit health care organization in the United States, serving approximately 8.2 million people in nine states and the District of Columbia, thanks to the dedication of some 147,000 employees and physicians. In a single year we schedule more than 32 million outpatient visits, deliver 90,000 babies, perform 431,000 surgeries, and fill about 109 million prescriptions.

Kaiser Permanente is an organization that continually works to elevate the state of health care with progressive products, services and advancements. Our vision of the future remains focused on improving the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Kaiser Permanente is composed of Kaiser Foundation Health Plans (nonprofit corporations), Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (a nonprofit, public-benefit corporation), and the Permanente Medical Groups (for-profit professional organizations).