Kaiser to Combine Regional Divisions

Kaiser Permanente said it will consolidate its Northern and Southern California divisions into a single entity in a bid to reduce costs. The health-care company said members shouldn’t notice any difference. A spokeswoman conceded that administrative jobs will be trimmed as Kaiser “seeks out redundancies, but we don’t yet know where that will lead.” The company indicated it hopes growth--such as the nearly 300,000 members it added in California last year--will partly offset any job losses. Kaiser has 20,500 employees in Southern California and 34,000 in the northern region. The two divisional managers, Hugh Jones and David Pockell, will leave Kaiser, and President Richard Barnaby will oversee the consolidation. The two divisions’ headquarters are in Pasadena and Oakland. No headquarters site has been chosen.