Executive Compensation at Kaiser Health (2019)

Kaiser Health is one of many terms (Kaiser, Kaiser Permanente, etc) that refers to one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health care insurers and providers with more than 12 million members (primarily in California but also in Hawaii, Colorado, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia). With 39 hospitals, more than 700 medical offices, and about 220,000 employees, Kaiser Health is considered one of the leaders in the industry.

Kaiser Health is comprised of the health plan (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc), the hospitals (Kaiser Foundation Hospitals) and the medical groups (Permanente Medical Groups) although there are numerous non-profits that make up the entire organization. The focus of this post is on the executive compensation reported on the Form 990 of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (KFHP) because this organization reports the paid compensation for the key executives including the Chairman and CEO (as opposed to a related organization reporting compensation from a related organization).

Key financial information reported on the Form 990 (2019) includes the following:

Total revenue was $63 billion from three primary sources:  member dues, which appears to be the organizations within the Kaiser Health system ($43 billion); medicare ($15 billion), and other program services and supplemental revenue ($4 billion).

Expenses totaled $61 billion with the largest expenses reported to be:  basic contractual payments ($40 billion), supplies and purchased services ($12 billion), office-related expenses ($4 billion), and compensation ($3 billion).

28,879 employees received $3 billion in compensation, which equates to an average compensation of about $105,000.  However, only 11,022 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 63 most highly compensated employees reported to be:

• $35,479,539:  Bernard Tyson, Chairman and CEO
• $6,720,335:  Kathryn Lancaster, EVP and CFO
• $6,213,257:  Gregory Adams, Chairman and CEO
• $5,837,783:  Arthur Southam, EVP, Health Plan Operations
• $3,958,930:  Richard Daniels, EVP, Chief Information Officer
• $3,676,934:  Julie Miller-Phipps, Region President, Southern CA
• $3,542,706:  Janet Liang, Regional President, Northern CA
• $2,989,567:  Patrick Curneya, EVP, Chief Medical Officer
• $2,760,793:  Charles Columbus, SVP
• $2,402,951:  Mark Zealman, SVP, General Counsel and Secretary
• $2,242,484:  Wade Overgaard, SVP, Health Plan Ops – CA
• $2,098,373:  Paul Swenson, SVP, Chief Strategy Officer
• $2,045,794:  Kathryn Beiser, SVP, Chief Communications Officer
• $2,040,727:  Chuck Bevilacqua, SVP, Health Plan Service and Admin
• $1,969,989:  James Simpson, Region President, GA
• $1,889,087:  George Disalvo, SVP, CFO Southern CA
• $1,789,318:  Peter Andrade, SVP, Sales and Account Management CA
• $1,734,167:  Anthony Barrueta, SVP, Government Relations
• $1,733,136:  Donald Orndoff, SVP, NFS
• $1,712,172:  Michael Rowe, SVP, Chief Business Development and Strategy Executive
• $1,579,575:  Roland Lyon, SVP, National Del System Strategy
• $1,504,221:  Thomas Henenburg, SVP, COO
• $1,461,476:  Laird Burnett, VP, Gov’t Relations – DC Office
• $1,438,091:  Thomas Meier, SVP, Corporate Treasurer
• $1,438,502:  Arlene Peasnell, Interim SVP, Chief HR Officer
• $1,356,979:  William Caswell, SVP, Operations
• $1,345,910:  Chandrika Bhalla, SVP, CFO – NCAL
• $1,336,497:  Christine Paige, SVP, Marketing and Internet Services
• $1,321,616:  Laurel Junk, SVP, Enterprise Shared Services
• $1,315,629:  Vanessa Benavides, SVP, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer
• $1,310,469:  Bechara Choucair, SVP, Chief Community Health Officer
• $1,293,876:  Dennis Dabney, SVP, Labor Relations
• $1,274,231:  Thomas Curtin Jr, SVP, National Sales and Account Management
• $1,244,592:  Mick Diede, SVP, Chief Actuary
• $1,186,875:  Ronald Vance, Interim Regional President, HI
• $1,148,964:  Alfonse Upshaw, SVP, Corporate Controller, CAO
• $1,137,327:  Tami Lamp, SVP, Chief HR Officer
• $1,006,956:  David Underriner, Region President, HI
• $  994,582:  John Yamamoto, Assistant Secretary
• $  985,313:  Robert Beltch, Chief Audit Executive
• $  880,112:  Philip Young Jr, Assistant Secretary
• $  842,685:  Gerald A McCall, SVP, Operations
• $  791,623:  Amy Gutierrez, SVP, Chief Pharmacy Officer
• $  758,239:  Matthew Weber, Assistant Secretary
• $  670,837:  Hong-Sze Yu, VP, Board and Corporate Gov, and Asst Secretary
• $  615,701:  Frank Richardson, Assistant Secretary, HI
• $  584,055:  Kristin Bear, Assistant Secretary
• $  480,263:  Cesar Villalpando, SVP, Enterprise Shared Services
• $  433,201:  Bernice Gould, Assistant Secretary
• $  371,653:  Rochelle Roth, Assistant Secretary
• $  278,566:  Margaret Porfido, Director
• $  271,531:  Edward YW Pei, Director
• $  261,781:  Leslie S Heisz, Director
• $  259,848:  Judith A Johansen, Director
• $  256,011:  Regina M Benjamin, Director
• $  264,110:  Cynthia A Telles, Director
• $  251,858:  Ramon F Baez, Director
• $  247,470:  Maryann Bodayle, Secretary
• $  243,891:  Richard P Shannon, Director
• $  231,554:  David J Barger, Director
• $  231,087:  David F Hoffmeister, Director
• $  225,231:  Jeffrey E Epstein, Director
• $  223,376:  Eugene Washington, Director

As illustrated above, the 63 most highly compensated employees received more than $105 million in compensation.  43 of the 63 (68%) of the most highly compensated employees are male while 20 (32%) are female.  It is important to note that a large portion of the bottom third of the list includes compensation for directors of the organization. So, if we look at the 50 most highly compensated individuals, 36 of the 50 (72%) are male, while 14 (28%) are female. 7 of the 10 most highly compensated employees are male while 3 are female.

The Form 990 also reports:

• First class or charter travel was paid for by the organization. According to the 990 “first class travel is permissible as an ordinary business expense for all Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officers, and 21 other officers…”
• Travel for companions was paid for by the organization, “as approved by senior management infrequently..”
• Personal services were paid for by the organization.  Specifically, “car and security service is approved for senior management in connection with business related travel.  The CEO’s non business transportation is included in compensation tax indemnification and gross up payments.”
• The organization made tax indemnification or gross up payments – “limited to partial tax gross up under relocation policy , CEO transportation, and security and as approved on a limited basis by senior management.
• A housing allowance was provided on a limited basis to two officers and one highly compensated employee for relocation.
• The organization has more than $2.3 billion in net assets.

2,609 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the five (5) most highly compensated reported to be:

• $20,370,531,924:  Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, of Pasadena, CA for medical services
• $12,600,882,266:  The Permanente Medical Group, of Oakland, CA for medical services
• $10,036,416,429:  S. California Permanente Medical Group, of Pasadena, CA for medical services
• $    331,676,017:  Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, of Honolulu, HI for medical servivces
• $    227,244,362:  Easter Seals Southern California, of Santa Ana, CA for health services

As illustrated above, the 4 highest compensated conractors appear to be related or affiliated with the organization.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2019), click here.