NIH Awards More Than $54 Million to Kaiser Permanente

As part of the $5 billion in grants announced by president Obama, the National Institutes of Health has granted Kaiser Permanente more than $54 million over two years through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to conduct health research on a multitude of critical public and clinical health areas. The bulk of this research will utilize and leverage Kaiser Permanente's electronic health records, the world's largest civilian electronic health record database. "Kaiser Permanente is proud to be part of what President Obama called the 'single largest boost to biomedical research in history.' It's our mission to find answers to medicine's complex questions so that everyone can have better care," said Raymond J. Baxter, Ph.D., senior vice president, Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit, Research and Health Policy. "Health research is foundational to reforming the way we deliver care. Such evidence-based innovation is core to Kaiser Permanente's commitment to improving care delivery and enhancing quality outcomes, two fundamental goals of the current health care reform debate."