George C. Halvorson’s Innovations are Changing the Shape of Healthcare
(San Fernando, Calif., December 26, 2007) — Marking its 10th anniversary of leading positive change in healthcare, Partners in Care (Partners) (www.picf.org) has named George C. Halvorson, Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, as its 2008 Mathies Award recipient. The prestigious Mathies Award, which honors innovative leadership, is to be presented to Mr. Halvorson at Partners’ annual Vision & Excellence in Healthcare Leadership Tribute Dinner on April 28, 2008, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, California.
“Partners’ Mathies Award calls attention to those healthcare, community, and private sector leaders who step forward and make positive, far-reaching changes in improving health care delivery services as individuals who do make the difference,” notes Seth Ellis, Chair of Partners’ Board of Directors. “As an individual and as a healthcare professional, George Halvorson’s career, vision, and effectiveness exemplifies the true meaning and spirit of this honor.”
Initiated and named in honor of Partners’ first award winners, Dr. Allen & Weta Mathies the Mathies Award is given each year in recognition of an innovative and creative leader in the professional healthcare community whose dedication and accomplishments are making a significant impact on improving healthcare.
Since becoming Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, headquartered in Oakland, California, in March 2002, Mr. Halvorson has led significant organizational progress in improving best practices, patient communications, information technology, and outcomes tracking in the nation's largest nonprofit health plan, serving more than 8.7 million members. Author of four books and numerous articles, consultant, and speaker, Mr. Halvorson brings more than 30 years of health care management experience to his vision of moving healthcare change forward.
(See Profile following.)
“Mr. Halvorson’s innovative, pro-active leadership points to the steps necessary to improve healthcare so it works better for all," explains W. June Simmons, President and CEO of Partners. “Under his leadership, our project partnerships with Kaiser have brought innovative approaches which have increased patient satisfaction with quality of care while reducing the cost of care - results that have been replicated in the Kaiser system and beyond.
It is his understanding and support of transformational change that deserves high recognition.” Previous Mathies Award honorees are: Lloyd Dean, Chairman and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West; Dr. Francine Kaufman; Thomas M. Priselac, President and CEO, Cedars-Sinai Health System; C. Duane Dauner, President and CEO of the California Healthcare Association, Robert E. Tranquada, M.D.; James E. Ludlam, J.D.; Yoshi Honkawa; and Dr. Allen & Weta Mathies.
For additional information, sponsorship and tribute opportunities, contact: Eva Goetz, VP, Advancement, at (818) 837-3775, ext.131; email egoetz@picf.org or visit: www.picf.org.
About Partners in Care (www.picf.org)
Celebrating 10 years of collaboration, innovation, and impact Partners in Care creates positive change in healthcare and social services which improve the quality of life for individuals and diverse communities while reducing the cost of care.
In collaboration with its extensive network of healthcare and community-based organizations and supporters, Partners creates, tests, and implements innovative, high-impact new models-of-care. A not for profit organization based in San Fernando, California, Partners’ evidence-based innovations have been widely disseminated and adopted nationally.
For more information, visit www.picf.org or contact Eva Goetz, VP, Advancement, at 818-837-3775, ext. 131.
Profile:
An Innovative, Effective Force for Change:
George C. Halvorson, Chairman and CEO
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
George C. Halvorson sees the future of healthcare and, as Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.’s and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals’ Chairman and CEO, is putting the plan in place.
Since assuming leadership of Kaiser in 2002, he has led change in improving the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan serving more than 8.7 members in nine states and the District of Columbia with his emphasis on best practices, patient communication, employing information technology, and outcomes tracking.
With more than 30 years of health care management experience, Mr. Halvorson previously served as president and CEO of HealthPartners, based in Minneapolis, and held several senior management positions with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Author of several widely acclaimed books on the U.S. health care system, his recently published Health Care Reform Now!: A Prescription For Change outlines a systematic plan on reforming health care by simplifying and streamlining the U.S. health care system in a way that works for patients, doctors, nurses, payers, and those who legislate health care policy.
Mr. Halvorson has served as an advisor on health policy and financing to the governments of Uganda, Great Britain, Jamaica, and Russia. In the United States, he is a frequent lecturer to academics, policy makers, and health industry leaders, including the National Business Group on Health, the Microsoft Annual Health Plan Executive Forum, the National Governors Association, and the World Health Care Congress.
A member on a number of boards, including those of America's Health Insurance Plans and the Alliance of Community Health Plans, Mr. Halvorson is the current president of the Board of Directors for the International Federation of Health Plans and a member of the Harvard Kennedy School Healthcare Delivery Policy Group. Halvorson also serves on the Institute of Medicine Task Force on Evidence-Based Medicine, and on the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. He also serves on the Executive Council of La Clínica, and on the Ambassadors Council to Freedom from Hunger, an international development organization working in 17 countries. He is a former board member and trustee of the National Cooperative Business Association.
For his insightful vision and effectiveness in leading change in a major healthcare organization that is a model of care for its patients and staff and for his personal excellence and impact in and beyond the field of healthcare, Partners in Care, his colleagues, and friends honor George C. Halvorson as the true embodiment of the spirit and meaning of the Mathies Award.
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