'We are building strong teams with the focus and know-how.'
HHS has tapped an insurance industry veteran who managed one of the few well-functioning state exchanges during the initial enrollment period to lead the federal insurance marketplace.
Kevin Counihan, the current chief executive officer of Access Health CT, Connecticut's state exchange, has been named Marketplace CEO by Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.
Counihan will be leading the federal exchange, covering more than 35 state markets for subsidized individual and small business insurance, managing relationships with state-based exchanges and also heading up the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.
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Counihan's post overseeing subsidized insurance sales and new Affordable Care Act market regulations comes after three decades spent working in public and private managed care.
Counihan started out at the Equicor health plan in the late 1980s and worked as a regional executive when Cigna bought the company in 1990. He joined Tufts Health Plan in 1993, becoming senior VP of sales, and in 2006 entered the public-sector as chief marketing officer for Massachusetts' pre-ACA exchange, the Health Insurance Connector.
He then spent a short time as president of Choice Administrators in California before becoming CEO of Connecticut's insurance exchange in 2012, where he helped craft an exchange technology platform that's now being contracted out to nine other states.
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That exchange technology hasn't been 100 percent successful. About 5,000 customers received inaccurate enrollment or billing information after data exchange problems with insurers and improper Medicaid determinations, and this summer the exchange suffered a data breach after a call center employee took home an unencrypted laptop.
Still, Access Health CT ultimately ended up among the most successful state exchanges in terms of enrolling consumers and managing information technology, and Burwell said Counihan will help the federal government improve on last year's experience.
"We are building strong teams with the focus and know-how necessary to advance our mission and deliver impact for the people we serve," Burwell said. Counihan "brings additional operational and technological expertise to the position and will be a clear, single point of contact for streamlined decision-making."
Burwell has made several other key management appointments. Lori Lodes, senior vice president at the Center for American Progress, will be a new voice of the federal government on all things health reform, as the new CMS communications director.
Tim Hughey, a managing director at Accenture, is also staying on the HHS team as federal marketplace system developer and maintainer, to provide technology support to CMS throughout the next open enrollment.
This story first appeared in Government Health IT here.
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