Kaiser Family Foundaton

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), or just Kaiser Family
Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, non-partisan, private operating
foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on major health
care issues facing the nation, as well as U.S. role in global health policy. The
Foundation states that it is a "non-partisan source of facts and analysis for
policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public."[1]
The Foundation is no longer affiliated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser
Industries.[citation needed]

History

The Foundation was established in 1948 by Henry J. Kaiser. The Kaiser Family
Foundation (KFF) was originally set up in Oakland, the same city that was the
headquarters for Kaiser Permanente. Later KFF moved to its current location in
Menlo Park, California about 50 miles away.

When Mr. Kaiser died in 1967, his second wife Ale Chester got half the estate;
the other half went to KFF. Ale sold all equities, moved far away, and remarried.
Mr. Kaiser's children got very little directly but had the authority to run the
Kaiser Industries businesses and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In 1977, ten years after Kaiser's death, his conglomerate of disparate Kaiser
Industries organizations split apart. The Kaiser Family Foundation was initially a
major owner of these shares: at the time of dissolution, the Foundation owned
32 percent according to Fortune Magazine.[2]

By 1985, the foundation no longer had an ownership stake in Kaiser's old
companies, and therefore is no longer associated with Kaiser Permanente or
Kaiser Industries. Family members did not retain seats on the board of Kaiser
Industries, but have remained active with the Kaiser Family Foundation.[3]

Starting in 1990, CEO Drew Altman directed "a complete overhaul of the
Foundation's mission and operating style." Altman changed a "sleepy
grant-making organization" (some $30 million a year interest on the $400 million
endowment) into a primary news source organization.[4] KFF has progressed
from funding polls through Harvard-Washington Post "partnerships," to giving
reporters in health care awards, to funding reporters with "fellowships," and to
finally hiring many of them full time to run the Kaiser Health News. The launch of
Kaiser Health News (KHN) in 2009 meant that KFF could through the news
outlet tell people - in side to side comparison - what the two political parties
were saying on health topics.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has funded professororial chairs at UC Berkeley,
Stanford University, Harvard University, and Johns Hopkins University, named
the Henry J. Kaiser Professorships...
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George Halvorson, Kaiser
Permanente CEO
Nonprofits' tax
breaks
questioned
State probes Kaiser,
Sutter
By Kathy Robertson
Sacramento Business
Journal
Dec. 18, 2005

The state is investigating
15 nonprofit healthcare
organizations for excess
profits, as legislators
question whether they
deserve to keep the
tax-exempt status that
saves them millions of
dollars a year.

The list includes Kaiser
Foundation Hospitals, which
potentially means closer
scrutiny of the healthcare
giant's 30 California hospitals,
even though
a legislative
hearing on the matter in
Oakland last week put
the heat on
Sacramento-based
Sutter Health instead.

Sutter is affiliated with
nine of the names on the
list -- although it sold one
of them, a hospital, in
2001 -- and was slammed
by the Service Employees
International Union and
others at the politically
charged hearing. That's
not a coincidence. SEIU
has tried to organize
Sutter's employees for
years, with little success.
Kaiser is a longtime friend
to labor and signed a
landmark, five-year
contract with 29 unions,
including SEIU, in
September.

The Assembly Revenue
and Taxation Committee
called the hearing to
consider the tax benefits
granted to nonprofit
hospitals in California,
whether hospitals are
giving back enough in
exchange, and if not, what
to do about it.

There's no bright line
in California law that
specifies how much
profit a nonprofit
hospital can earn.

State law says groups that
own and operate hospitals
aren't considered
for-profit if operating
income in the proceeding
year exceeds expenses
by 10 percent, but there
are exceptions. Hospitals
can use the extra money
to pay debt, expand their
facilities or put money
aside for contingencies
without jeopardizing
nonprofit status.

"Question is: What is the
acceptable threshold?"
said Assemblyman Johan
Klehs, a Hayward
Democrat who chairs the
committee.

Legislators have the
authority, under the
California Constitution,
to
exempt properties
from taxes if they are
owned by nonprofits
and used for religious,
hospital or charitable
purposes.

About 200 healthcare
organizations in the state
qualify for the "welfare
exemption."
They claim
exemptions for about
1,000 hospital
properties they own
statewide...
The board
identified 15 out of the
200 organizations it
oversees as having profits
of more than 10 percent
in 2004...State law does
not have a minimum
standard for charity care
for hospitals, Shedd said.

All Kaiser hospitals are
clumped into one entry,
but most Sutter
affiliates are cited
separately. The list
includes Sutter Health
at Work, a subsidiary
Sutter says lost money
last year and is being
shut for lack of
business. Also on the
list is Sutter Merced
Medical Center, sold
four years ago to
Catholic Healthcare
West...

Selective spotlight

Kaiser was not on the
hot seat at the hearing
even though the
amount of charity care
its 30 California
hospitals provides is a
third of what Sutter's 26
hospital does.

In 2004, Kaiser
provided $50.5 million
in charity care at its
California hospitals.
Sutter provided
$155
million and CHW did $63
million, according to
figures the individual
health systems provided
the Business Journal in
September.

Kaiser is both a health
plan and healthcare
system and mostly treats
its own members in its
hospitals, and thus does
very little direct charity
care.

Yet SEIU policy director
Fred Seavey blasted
Sutter for inadequate
levels of charity care, high
prices and high executive
pay...
Kaiser public relations
Kaiser Permanente Breast
Cancer Foundation
Kaiser net income for 2011 was $2.0 billion (Kaiser
press release)
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan Report Fiscal Year 2011 and Fourth
Quarter Financial Results
10th of February 2012
PR Newswire     
.
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and their subsidiaries
(KFH/HP) reported today that combined total operating revenue for 2011 was $47.9
billion, compared to $44.2 billion in 2010. Operating income for 2011 was $1.6 billion,
equal to 3.3 percent of operating revenue, compared to $1.2 billion, equal to 2.7 percent
of operating revenue, in 2010. Net non-operating income was $426 million in 2011,
compared to $789 million in 2010. As a result, net income for 2011 was $2.0 billion,
consistent with that of the prior year.

Capital spending in the communities served by Kaiser Permanente for 2011 increased to
$3.2 billion, compared to $2.9 billion in 2010. Spending on new health care facilities
made KFH/HP one of the major providers of construction jobs in California. Major hospital
construction projects are underway in Anaheim, Fontana, Los Angeles, Oakland,
Redwood City, and San Leandro.

Combined total operating revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011, was $12.1
billion, compared to $11.1 billion in the same period in 2010. Operating income was $247
million in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to $42 million in the same quarter of the
prior year. Net non-operating income was $227 million in the fourth quarter of 2011,
compared to a net non-operating income of $205 million in the same quarter of 2010. As
a result, net income for the fourth quarter was $474 million, versus $247 million for the
same period in 2010. Capital spending in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $1.0 billion,
compared to nearly $1.2 billion in the same quarter in 2010.

Total membership increased by approximately 249,000 members over the past year. As
of Dec. 31, 2011, membership totaled more than 8.9 million members.

"Our year-end results are in line with our historical financial performance and support our
continuing investments in improving access, affordability and high-quality health care,"
said Kathy Lancaster, chief financial officer and executive vice president.
"By strategically investing in our infrastructure, we have been able to build facilities and
use technology in ways that allow us to deliver the right care, in the right place, at the
right time."

"Kaiser Permanente's mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care leads us to
find new and innovative ways to deliver total health,"
said George Halvorson, chairman and chief executive officer.
"For five years, our members have had the ability to email their doctors from their home
or laptop computers, and now – with the new smart phone connectivity tools – our
members can more easily check lab results, refill prescriptions and communicate with
their doctors' office from wherever they are via their mobile device. Lab results can go
directly from the laboratory to the patient's smart phone – often within hours of the tests
being run. This is the future of health care."

In 2011, KFH/HP provided approximately $1.8 billion, 3.8 percent of its operating
revenue, in support to community benefit programs and services. KFH/HP devote
resources to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. Our
community benefit investment supports a wide range of programs that provide care for
low-income individuals, support community-based health partnerships, conduct research,
train health care workers, and expand access to health care within the safety net.

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this media
release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
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