Kaiser Permanente Outsources Data Center Management to IBM

IBM has landed a seven-year, $500 million contract with the Kaiser Permanente health care program to manage its data centers, reports The Associated Press in a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Big Blue will manage the health program's computing, storage and software needs for the data centers, located primarily in California and Maryland. Kaiser Permanente will still manage its business applications and its HealthConnect electronic health records system, reports InformationWeek, though IBM is expected to help make improvements to that system.

That article says 860 IT positions will be cut as part of the deal, though some of those workers could be hired by IBM.

With $19 billion in the federal stimulus package for electronic health records systems, there's a race on to get in on that action -- even by Walmart, reports CIO.com.