Kaiser plans to displace 15 hospital CEOs. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. Northern California Region hospitals)

All 15 chief executives of Kaiser Permanente's Northern California hospitals will be removed from their posts by July 1 as part of a massive restructuring now under way at the region's dominant health-care provider.

The fates of most of the soon-to-be-fallen executives have yet to be determined, as Kaiser's 2.4 million-member Northern California region redesigns its future.

Industry observers are comparing the effort to the recent bloodletting programs instituted by IBM and Xerox to shake themselves from their bureaucratic slumbers.

The restructuring -- the Oakland-based HMO's most radical surgery in its 49-year history -- will carve the Bay Area into eight …