As regulators review Kaiser Permanente’s proposed acquisition of a respected health system based in Pennsylvania, healthcare experts are still puzzling over how the surprise deal, announced in April, could fulfill the managed care giant’s promise of improving care and reducing costs for patients, including in its home state of California.
KP said it would acquire Danville, Pennsylvania-based Geisinger—which has 10 hospitals, 1,700 employed physicians and a 600,000-member health plan in three states—as the first step in the creation of a new national healthcare organization called Risant Health. Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente said it expects to invest $5 billion in Risant over the next five years and to add as many as six more nonprofit health systems during that period.
Industry experts believe KP’s aim is to build a big enough presence across the country to effectively compete with players like Amazon, Aetna CVS Health, Walmart Health and UnitedHealth Group in providing healthcare for large corporate customers, Fierce Healthcare reports. Read more.
