Kaiser Permanente posted $2 billion in net income for the first quarter of the year, a major boost compared to the $1.1 billion loss it experienced in the same period in 2020.
The hospital system also saw growth in the membership of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.
“Kaiser Permanente continues to focus on improving the health and safety of our members, workforce and communities during this pandemic while providing COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccination,” said Kaiser CEO Greg A. Adams, in a statement on Friday.
Kaiser posted total operating revenues of $23 billion and total expenses of $22.2 billion. That was an increase over the total revenues of $22.6 billion for the first quarter of 2020, which was when the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.
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The system also posted operating income of $1 billion, compared with $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
Even though profits for the first quarter were up, they are still below the $3.2 billion that was generated in the first quarter of 2019.
Kaiser also posted gains in its health plan membership, which has approximately 12.5 million as of March 31. That is a 129,000 increase since the end of 2020.
“We’re proud that throughout this pandemic, our unique integrated model enabled us to provide our members with options to seamlessly transition from commercial and employer-sponsored plans to individual or government-sponsored plans,” the system said.
Kaiser is the latest hospital system to post gains for the first quarter of the year.
Major for-profit systems HCA Healthcare and Tenet posted profits despite lingering volume declines due to the pandemic. But higher acuity patients more than made up for the shortfall in volume.
Kaiser reported treating nearly 275,000 COVID-19 patients in the first quarter and administered more than 3.4 million doses. But it did not say in the earnings report how much of a factor higher acuity played in the earnings report.