Kaiser Physician Groups in Northern California, Mid-Atlantic Link Up
On Tuesday, the Permanente Medical Group and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group announced that the physician groups will enter an affiliation, effective Jan. 1, 2009, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The Permanente Medical Group includes more than 6,000 doctors in Northern California, treating about 3.3 million Kaiser members. More than 900 physicians comprise the Mid-Atlantic group, serving about 500,000 members in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Robert Pearl, CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, will lead the affiliated group. Philip Carney, president and medical director of the Mid-Atlantic group, is retiring, a Kaiser spokesperson said.
According to the Business Times, the affiliation "could be the first stage of a tighter alignment" of Kaiser medical groups in its eight regions across the U.S.
Kaiser officials said the affiliation also could:
- Expand use of health information technology;
- Boost medical research; and
- Coordinate physician recruitment (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 7/22).