Kaiser Permanente is an integrated health care organization which is based in Oakland, California, founded in the year 1945 by an industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and a physician Sidney R. Garfield. Kaiser Permanente is an association of three distinct entities groups; the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and its regional operating organizations, the Permanente Medical Groups and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. As of 2006, Kaiser Permanente is operated in 9 states as well as in Washington, D.C., and this is the largest managed care organization in America.