Kaiser Permanente has announced a new partnership with Renown Health, the parent of Hometown Health plan, to create a new health insurance plan known as Kaiser Permanente Nevada. Pending regulatory approval, enrollment in the new plan is expected to begin in 2026 for employers and individuals in Northern Nevada.
The joint venture brings together two non-profit health care organizations with a shared commitment to deliver high-quality, value-based care to more people by improving access and expanding options. Kaiser Permanente plans to open a multi-specialty ambulatory health system with convenient locations in central and northern Reno.
U.S. industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield founded what would become Kaiser Permanente in the 1930s, providing pre-paid medical care for shipyard workers. Permanente Health Plan opened to the public in 1945, following the end of World War II. Today, Kaiser Permanente is comprised of three entities: the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.; the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and the Permanente Medical Groups (25,000+ physicians in Kaiser Permanente’s eight regions nationwide).
Renown Health has been a pillar of health and well-being Northern Nevada for more than 150 years. It is the region’s largest, locally governed, not-for-profit academic health care network serving Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and northeast California. It established the first hospital in Nevada in 1862 – two years before the state achieved statehood. Hometown Health, the not-for-profit insurance division, was launched in 1988. Renown Health will continue to operate as an independent nonprofit and will continue to accept all current health insurance plans for patient care.
Reno is the second-largest metropolitan area in Nevada and among the fastest-growing in the U.S. From 2020 to 2023, former Californians made up 43% of new residents in the Silver State, according to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.
The expansion into Nevada also reflects Kaiser Permanente’s interest in growing beyond its current markets. In December, the organization’s Risant Health arm completed the acquisition of Cone Health in North Carolina. Previously, Risant Health acquired Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health in March 2024.