It was a tough 2015 for Kaiser Permanente. The fact that Wall Street had some slumps last year played a role in Kaiser’s declination in net income and operating income. While service and performance took place as usual, investments dropped from $896 million in 2014 to $102 million last year.
Despite the loss in profits, Kaiser was able to grow their patient network to a reported 10 million with more than three quarters of these members in California. Even though this growth is not expected to show similar results, there are plans of acquiring Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative. By doing so, the Kaiser health system would gain about 600,000 new members from the moment of acquisition.
Once the transfer is approved by members of the board from the Group Health Cooperative, a reported $1 billion will be invested over the course of an estimated 10 years in updating the technology, staff, and locations in Washington.
