Kaiser Permanente

Francisco Manjarrez, left, and Carlos Ochoa install a sign near the emergency room at the new Kaiser hospital. The nation’s largest nonprofit healthcare organization, Kaiser employs more than 128,000 people in California and is the largest private employer in Los Angeles County. It is positioning itself for even more growth as the Obama administration pushes sweeping changes in the way the nation delivers healthcare.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Nurses Jojo De Guzman, left, and Elmir Lutz transfer patient Karen Ballog into Kaiser’s new hospital on Sunset Boulevard. Kaiser has its share of controversy, medical scandals and patient complaints. Even so, reformers in the U.S. and abroad are looking at Kaiser as a model of some of the biggest ideas in healthcare today.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Kaiser is not immune from the economic storm. It posted a net loss last year of $794 million as a result of investment losses. It also lost 30,000 members last year, and recently laid off about 160 information technology workers. Still, while other hospital operators have closed scores of facilities across the state in the last decade, Kaiser is engaged in an ambitious $10-billion campaign to add capacity and swap out older facilities with earthquake-safe structures.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Nurse Ronda Williams hands Jenneil Bobo her newborn baby. It was the last baby born in the old Kaiser hospital on Sunset Boulevard.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)