Oklahoma's largest not-for-profit health system has signed an agreement to join Kaiser Permanente's national expansion effort. INTEGRIS Health has entered into an agreement with Risant Health, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente, to become part of its value-based care network, joining a growing roster of regional hospital systems.
The deal, reported by KOKH, would make INTEGRIS the third major health system to join Risant, following Pennsylvania's Geisinger Health System and North Carolina's Cone Health. If approved, INTEGRIS would become part of a family that also includes Geisinger and Cone Health, and the Oklahoma system brings significant scale to the table: it operates 10 acute care hospitals, 10 specialty hospitals, and healthcare services across 49 Oklahoma towns and cities, employing roughly 13,000 people, according to a PR Newswire release announcing the deal.
Greg A. Adams, chair and chief executive officer of Kaiser Permanente, framed the acquisition in sweeping terms. “We’re excited to have INTEGRIS Health become part of Risant Health and join us in changing healthcare in this country,” Adams said, per KOKH's report. INTEGRIS CEO Timothy Pehrson struck a similar note, saying joining Risant Health will accelerate delivery of INTEGRIS Health's mission to partner with people to live healthier lives.
A System Under Financial Strain
The acquisition lands at a rocky moment for INTEGRIS. In April, the system announced plans to eliminate jobs and shutter several outpatient clinics across Oklahoma to offset an estimated $130 million annual hit from anticipated federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement cuts, as Hoodline reported at the time. That financial pressure arrived on top of an already tense standoff with UnitedHealthcare earlier this year, when INTEGRIS accused the insurer of withholding $5 million across nearly 1,500 claim downgrades and denials, while UnitedHealthcare countered that INTEGRIS had demanded rate hikes exceeding 20%.
On October 16, INTEGRIS closed its Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic, and Oklahoma Children's OU Health has a specialty clinic in Northwest Oklahoma City to serve displaced patients. Taken together, the clinic closures, staff reductions, and insurer disputes paint a picture of a system that entered the Risant agreement already squeezed on multiple fronts.
What Risant Promises to Deliver
Risant Health says it will provide INTEGRIS with resources, proven value-based care capabilities, and investments in hospitals, clinics, growth, technology, and clinical enablers. The company and its member organizations are moving healthcare toward a value-based care approach with increased focus on evidence-based care and healthier outcomes, according to the acquisition announcement. INTEGRIS, for its part, brings its own expertise in complex clinical services and experience in value-based care to the partnership.
Importantly, INTEGRIS plans to maintain its healthcare staff and leadership team and will retain the INTEGRIS name and branding. Cone Health has retained its brand, board, and leadership under Risant. Risant has used a similar playbook before: when it finalized its first acquisition of Geisinger in April 2024, the deal created a $2 billion capital pool to fund system expansion and technology enablers. Risant named Cone Health as its second acquisition target in June 2024, about two months later, with at least $1.4 billion committed over five years for facility investments.
The Numbers Behind Risant's Bet
Risant was launched by Kaiser Permanente in April 2023 with a planned commitment of up to $5 billion over several years, aimed at building a national network of five to six nonprofit health systems generating $30 billion to $35 billion in combined annual revenue, according to Fierce Healthcare. The strategy appears to be paying early dividends on at least one front: in its October acquisition announcement, Risant reported that Geisinger realized benefits translating to nearly 1% of operating-margin improvement after joining the value-based care platform, with Risant aiming to improve member systems' overall cost structures by 2% to 3% through shared services.
Kaiser Permanente's broader balance sheet gives some sense of the financial muscle behind the expansion. The company and its Risant subsidiary reported consolidated operating revenue of $127.7 billion in 2025, up 10.3% year-over-year, while increasing consolidated operating income to $1.4 billion, per Fierce Healthcare's reporting. The expansion comes amid leadership turnover at Risant itself: founding CEO Dr. Jaewon Ryu, who previously led Geisinger before taking the top job at Risant, stepped down on July 29, 2026, and Dale Maxwell was appointed interim chief executive officer.
Open Questions for Oklahoma
What remains unclear locally is the specific regulatory approval timeline for the Oklahoma deal, how commercial insurer negotiations in the state might shift once INTEGRIS is under the Risant umbrella, and whether the new capital commitment will reverse or merely slow the outpatient service contractions already underway. Those questions sit alongside financial pressures facing nonprofit health systems, including rising labor costs and shifting federal reimbursements. For now, INTEGRIS Health, which describes itself as Oklahoma's largest not-for-profit health system with the state's largest physician network, says it will keep its name and leadership and retain its Oklahoma City headquarters as it prepares to become the newest member of Risant's growing national portfolio.
