MANAGED CARE IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA KAISER-PERMANENTE HEALTH-CARESYSTEM

Kaiser Permanente in Northern California is a group model health maint enance organization (HMO) that contracts with The Permanente Medical G roup, Inc. (TPMG) to provide care for health plan members. TPMG is the largest (for-profit) private group practice in the world, with 3600 p hysicians in Northern California, including 62 urologists, providing c are to 2.5 million health plan members. Recent changes in health care financing and delivery mandate an HMO-physician relationship which add resses issues of cost, quality of care, and the needs of physicians. ( C) 1998, Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.