In one of the largest healthcare deals to date, Kaiser Permanente is acquiring Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health and investing $5 billion to fold it into a new nonprofit subsidiary called Risant Health, which is set to purchase additional medical groups in coming years.
While regulators still must review this initial acquisition, the marriage of Kaiser and Geisinger would create a behemoth with more than $100 billion in annual revenue — 95% of it coming from the Kaiser side of the equation.
Like Kaiser, Geisinger both owns hospitals — 10 of them — and operates its own health insurance program. Unlike California-based Kaiser, which operates a closed system of 39 hospitals and employs 24,000 doctors, Geisinger accepts health insurance from other payers.