Francis J. Crosson, MD,
Founding Executive Director
The Permanente Federation

Dr. Crosson was the founding Executive Director of The Permanente Federation. The Federation is the national organization of the Permanente Medical Groups, the physician component of Kaiser Permanente. From 1997 to 2007 Dr. Crosson served as the Executive Director of the Federation and co-chair, with Mr. George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, of the Kaiser Permanente Partnership Group (KPPG), the Kaiser Permanente joint management body. Dr. Crosson also served as the CEO and President of The Permanente Company, which carries out the Federation’s business functions. He currently is a Senior Fellow in the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy and Associate Executive Director of the Permanente Medical Group.

Dr. Crosson is Past Chair of the Governing Board of the American Medical Group Association (AMGA). In 2002, Dr. Crosson founded and now chairs the Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP), an AMGA affiliate. CAPP is an alliance of 34 of the nation’s largest multi-specialty group practices which promotes delivery system improvement in the United States. He recently served for nine years on the California Medical Association Board of Trustees. In 2007, Dr. Crosson was re-appointed to a second three-year term on the congressional Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). He is a graduate of the Kaiser Permanente Executive Program at Stanford Business School.

Dr. Crosson received an undergraduate degree in Political Science and, in 1970, a medical degree from Georgetown University. He completed a residency in Pediatrics at the New England Medical Center Hospitals and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. He served in the U.S. Navy for two years at Bethesda Naval Hospital before joining The Permanente Medical Group in 1977, where he practiced pediatrics and served in numerous leadership and administrative positions, until he assumed the leadership of The Permanente Federation in 1997.

Integrating Services for Low-Income Seniors Shows Health Care Benefit, by Claire Sowerbutt, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today, December 11, 2007.

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 11 -- For low-income seniors, the likelihood of providing the recommended standard of health care services could be enhanced by integrating home-based and institutional services, found researchers here.

Click here for full story

“From High Tech to Soft Touch: The Everett Clinic uses innovative ways to control health care costs,” by Bryan Corliss, Washington CEO, November 26, 2007.

Click here for full story

“CAPP’s 35 MSMGs [multispecialty medical groups] share a common vision as learning organizations dedicated to the improvement of clinical care. Their features include physician leadership and governance; commitment to evidence-based care management processes; well-developed quality improvement systems; team-based care; the use of advance clinical information technology; and the collection, analysis, and distribution of clinical performance information. These features are congruent with the [Institute of Medicine’s] recommendations on key elements needed to redesign delivery systems.”

From Chapter 5, “Developing the Test Bed—Linking Integrated Service Delivery Systems: Council of Accountable Physician Practices,” by Michael A. Mustile, MD. The Learning Healthcare System: Workshop Summary (IOM Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine), edited by LeighAnne Olsen, Dara Aisner, and J. Michael McGinnis, National Academies Press, 2007.

Click here for full report


“A shift from the current care model to a more coordinated care model centered on primary care is one potential way to help stave off the healthcare dilemma.”

“It's too expensive to be a primary-care doctor,” by Debra A. Geihsler, president and CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates & Atrius Health. Boston Globe, July 25, 2007.

Click here for full report