Kaiser Permanente Restructures, California Division Head Resigns

Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson has announced a reorganization of the health insurance company that would effectively eliminate the California division, the Los Angeles Times reports. Halvorson decided to eliminate the California division and "return to a structure of having a top manager in Southern California and one in the north." The restructuring prompted the resignation of Dick Pettingill, a "prominent member of California's health care industry," who has served as president of Kaiser Permanente California since 1999. The reorganization also will result in all of the insurers' eight regions reporting "directly to headquarters" in Oakland. The new company structure is meant to "streamline operations" and will not lead to staff reductions, Kaiser officials said. Pettingill will leave at the end of the month; the Times notes that his departure "surprised observers" (Lee, Los Angeles Times, 6/22).