Dr. Raymond Myer Kay; Kaiser Co-Founder in Southern California

Dr. Raymond Myer Kay, 92, a pioneer of prepaid medical care who co-founded Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. In 1949, Kay helped to establish the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, a forerunner of today’s health maintenance organizations, and served as its medical director until 1969. In the 1950s, Kay and his associates were ostracized by fee-for-service doctors because they had organized as a multi-specialty group paid by a prepaid insurance plan. Some medical societies even barred the group’s physicians from membership. Contracting with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Kay’s doctors set an example as a self-governing group model HMO. Under the more common staff model HMO, physicians are paid employees of an insurance company. Born in Texarkana, Texas, Kay was educated at Stanford University and served with the Army Medical Corps. He began his career by teaching medicine and managing residency programs at USC. On Saturday in Milwaukie, Ore.