2024 Community Health Snapshot

Our Mission

Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Our Goal

As more people get high-quality, affordable health care, neighborhoods and communities become healthier. Then as more people live their best lives, health care becomes more affordable.

Our Investment

Last year, Kaiser Permanente invested over $38 million to improve the health of Hawaii’s people. Those investments:

• Increased access to health care
• Added to affordable housing
• Enhanced the supply of health care workers
• Brought nutritious food to vulnerable people.

Good Food Fights Chronic Diseases

Kaiser Permanente’s initiatives are focused on increasing access to fresh, nutritious food and increasing enrollment in programs such as SNAP.

• Food is medicine: Kaiser Permanente launched the Food Is Medicine Center of Excellence to integrate evidence-based food and nutritional interventions into our care model and has committed $50 million to national initiatives.
• Better meals: Kaiser Permanente partners with Hawai‘i organizations to provide medically tailored meals and produce prescriptions to people with nutrition-based chronic diseases, while supporting local agriculture.
• Supporting food banks: Kaiser Permanente supported the Farm to Families program to purchase 125,599 pounds of fresh produce from local farms. Nearly 1,600 low-income seniors were fed.

Kaiser Permanente’s support for food banks fed nearly 1,600 low-income seniors | Photo Courtesy: Hawaii Foodbank

5 Ways Kaiser Permanente Improves Access for All

Our mobile health vehicle brings high-quality health care to communities with no clinics. | Photo Courtesy: Kaiser Permanente

• Financial aid: More than 18,201 Hawai‘i residents received nearly $19 million in medical financial assistance from Kaiser Permanente last year. We also provided medical debt forgiveness for survivors of the Lahaina wildfires.
• No-cost coverage: The Hawai‘i Health Access Program, fully funded by Kaiser Permanente, provides a comprehensive no-cost health plan this year to 635 Maui and O‘ahu people with no other health coverage options.
• Mobile health vehicle: The 40-foot-long vehicle provides high-quality primary care where there are no clinics. Working with advanced equipment and two full-size exam rooms, the vehicle’s Kaiser Permanente staff care for members and provide free screenings at community events.
• Boosting the health care workforce: Last year, Kaiser Permanente invested more than $6.5 million in the next generation of health care workers, including scholarships for medical students, residency programs, training for behavioral health professionals, and more.
• Mental health: The Mental Health Workforce Accelerator Program increases the supply of licensed behavioral health clinicians by partnering with the University of Hawai‘i Thompson School of Social Work. The innovative program places recent graduates in supervised practice with community providers so they complete their license requirements.

Last year, Kaiser Permanente invested more than $6.5 million in the next generation of health care workers | Photo Courtesy: Kaiser Permanente

Housing: Helping the Most Vulnerable

Giving someone a home can extend their life expectancy by over two decades. Here are some ways Kaiser Permanente helped address Hawai‘i’s housing challenges in 2024:

• Veteran homelessness: The Built for Zero program provides financial support to O‘ahu agencies working to end chronic homelessness among veterans.
• Respite care: People who are unhoused often need a safe, clean place to recover from medical treatment. Medical respite providers across Hawai‘i are participating in a Kaiser Permanente-funded cohort to increase medical respite beds and services.
• Housing for health care workers: A $10 million investment in the Maui Health Foundation supported the development of 31 affordable rental homes for health care workers on Maui. The first residents moved in during November 2024.
• Support for nonprofit developers: Led by Hawai‘i Community Lending, nine local nonprofits received training funded by Kaiser Permanente to access capital and advance affordable housing projects. An expanded program is planned for 2025.

Kaiser Permanente’s $10 million investment supported the development of 31 affordable rental homes for health care workers on Maui. | Photo Courtesy: Kaiser Permanente

Maui wildfire relief: Helping impacted families

Kaiser Permanente deployed staff and money right after the West Maui fires and continues to support long-term recovery.

• Immediate aid: Kaiser Permanente physicians and teams deployed at shelters as the first survivors arrived. We also operated mobile health vehicles and first aid stations for eight months, providing care for all in West Maui until community providers could meet demand.
• Aiding recovery: Kaiser Permanente’s contributions to Maui’s recovery now exceed $8.7 million. We forgave medical debt and donated over $4.5 million to support housing, behavioral health, health care workforce development, emergency feeding, and other priorities.
• Early and often: Kaiser Permanente has been an early funder and advocate for important efforts that have raised millions of dollars in additional funding from government and other donors. Those efforts include the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study, the Ke Ola Hou behavioral health resiliency center, and the Maui Recovery Funders Collaborative.
• Mental and behavioral health: Kaiser Permanente provided nearly $2.7 million to support mental health and wellness programs and workforce development.