Kaiser Permanente Posts $584M in Positive Returns Last Year
Kaiser Permanente posted positive returns last year with a net income of $584 million, Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Times reports. The HMO also reported that revenue rose 5.4%, to $17.7 billion, from $16.8 billion last year. After reporting losses of $6 million in 1999, the not-for-profit HMO underwent a financial turnaround that involved cutting administrative costs, raising premiums and "dropping unprofitable business," in addition to focusing on "managing patient care" and signing a union agreement that will make its labor costs "more predictable." In addition, Kaiser has ended "expensive" contracts in California with outside hospitals, enabling the company to focus on "its core HMO operations." Kaiser President Dale Crandall said that although the company has "made great progress," it is "still in a turnaround" and has "yet to fully meet [its] financial targets" (Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Times, 3/1).
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