Group Health Cooperative, (formerly known as Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound), later more commonly known as Group Health, was a

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

based nonprofit healthcare organization.

Business model

Established in , Group Health provided coverage and care for about 600,000 people in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Corporate structure

Despite being marketed as a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

for much of the organization's history, Group Health never legally presented itself as a cooperative. It was a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

with members. Members were always able to amend

bylaws A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

and elect a board of trustees, but never owned organization assets or directly controlled operations. Group Health Community Foundation (GHCF) was funded with the acquisition with approximately $1.8 billion in assets. Founded in 1983, the new GHCF is entirely independent of

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser ...

. GHCF may continue to invest in efforts to improve health and health care through immunizations, innovation, and patient care.

History

Group Health was officially registered as a corporation in Washington on December 22, 1945. Group Health's founders included Thomas G. Bevan, then president of lodge 751 of the

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Or ...

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

; Ella Willams, a leader in a local chapter of

The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and ...

; Addison Shoudy, R.M Mitchell, and Stanley Erickson, who were pioneers in the American

movement; and other community members who had no strong past affiliation with any particular social group. Originally named Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, the "of Puget Sound" was dropped in 1995. The '' Seattle Times'' noted in 2012 that non-profit insurance companies, including Premera Blue Cross, Regence BlueShield, and Group Health, were stockpiling billions of dollars in reserves while increasing their rates at the same time. On December 4, 2015, it was announced that Group Health would be acquired by

. In January 2017 Washington State regulators endorsed the acquisition of Group Health by Kaiser Permanente. The acquisition resulted in a newly formed not-for-profit 501(c)(4) under the name Group Health Community Foundation (GHCF).

Group Health Research Institute

Group Health's research leg was the Group Health Research Institute (GHRI), formerly known as Group Health Center for Health Studies. Now known as Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI), it works with institutions such as the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

and the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

. It is a member of the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN), formerly known as the HMO Research Network.

Group Health Cooperative Medical Library

Group Health Cooperative Medical Library was founded in 1969. As of 2011 it subscribed to 8,000 electronic journals and had 400 books. It specializes in allied health professions, medicine, health maintenance organizations,

health administration Health administration, healthcare administration, healthcare management or hospital management is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, hospitals, and hospital networks ...

, nursing, and pharmacy.

Notable staff

Scott Armstrong became president and CEO of Group Health in 2003. He is a commissioner of the

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is an independent, non-partisan legislative branch agency headquartered in Washington, D.C. MedPAC was established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105–33). The BBA formed MedPAC by merg ...

, board chair of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, a board member of

America's Health Insurance Plans AHIP (formerly America's Health Insurance Plans) is an American political advocacy and trade association of health insurance companies that offer coverage through the employer-provided, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care, and individual ...

and the

Pacific Science Center Pacific Science Center is an independent, non-profit science center in Seattle with a mission to ignite curiosity and fuel a passion for discovery, experimentation, and critical thinking. Pacific Science Center serves more than 1 million people e ...

, a member of the Community Development Roundtable in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and a fellow of the

American College of Healthcare Executives American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. He was named among the top 40 of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" in 2010 by ''

Modern Healthcare ''Modern Healthcare'' is a twice monthly business publication targeting executives in the healthcare industry. It is an independent American publisher of national and regional healthcare news. The publication is also known for providing statistic ...

'' magazine.

References

Bibliography

* Walt Crowley, ''To Serve the Greatest Number'',

University of Washington Press The University of Washington Press is an American academic publishing house. The organization is a division of the University of Washington, based in Seattle. Although the division functions autonomously, they have worked to assist the universi ...

, 1996. The most thorough history published. * Walt Crowley and

HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...

, ''Group Health Timeline'', HistoryLink, 2007. An update and summary of ''To Serve the Greatest Number''. * * *

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Seattle Cooperatives in the United States Medical and health organizations based in Washington (state) Healthcare in Idaho Healthcare in Washington (state) Libraries in Seattle