News Release

 August 11, 2003

Contact: IHA (925) 746-5100
bcarter@iha.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATION NAMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS

WALNUT CREEK, CA – August 11, 2003 – The Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), a statewide leadership group active in health care policy and managed care issues, announces the appointment of three new members to its board of directors -- Bill Caswell, executive vice president, Southern California Healthcare Systems; Arnie Milstein, MD, MPH, national health care thought leader at Mercer Human Resource Consulting; and Hon. Helen Thomson, member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors and former member of the California State Assembly.

Bill Caswell has been a senior healthcare executive in California for more than 23 years.  He is currently executive vice president for Southern California Healthcare Systems (SCHS), which includes Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. Overseeing all facets of strategic positioning, market growth and revenue enhancement, he manages third-party payer contracting, managed care operations, physician relations, and product development.  Prior to joining SCHS, he was president of the Pacific Region for NYLCare Health Plans (a New York Life subsidiary) and California general manager for Maxicare Health Plans.  Caswell began his career in 1979 with the Lutheran Hospital Society/UniHealth America.  His positions within UniHealth included president of VertiHealth and both senior vice president and CFO at California Hospital Medical Center, Los Angeles.  He received his BA degree from Stanford University and a master’s degree from UCLA.  

Arnie Milstein, MD, MPH is the national health care thought leader at Mercer Human Resource Consulting and medical director at the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), the largest health care purchasers coalition in the U.S  His work focuses on: (1) performance improvement methods for

large health care purchasers and providers; (2) clinical performance measurement; and (3) the psychology of clinical performance failure.  Dr. Milstein co-founded both the Leapfrog Group and the Consumer Purchaser Disclosure Project.  He heads clinical standards setting for both initiatives.  A Rosenthal Lecturer at the Institute of Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine’s series on employer sponsored health insurance described him as a “pioneer” in efforts to advance quality of care.  Educated at Harvard (BA‑Economics), Tufts (MD) and UC‑Berkeley (MPH‑Health Services Planning), he is an associate clinical professor at the University of California at San Francisco and a Worldwide Partner at Mercer. 

In March of 2002, Helen Thomson was elected to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, 2nd District - the seat she held prior to serving in the California State Assembly.  Thomson's term in the Assembly ended at the close of the legislative session on November 30, 2002, and she was sworn into office on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors on January 6, 2003.  As an Assemblywoman from 1996 to 2002, Thomson established a strong legislative record in health care, mental health, water, public education, transportation, and local government finance.  She chaired both the Assembly Health Committee and the Select Committee on Mental Health.  During her six years in the State Assembly, Thomson authored more bills signed into law by both Democratic and Republican governors than any other Assembly member (81).  Most notably, she authored AB 88, the mental health parity bill, which ends the historic discrimination in insurance benefits for those who suffer from severe mental illnesses, and AB 1421, "Laura's Law," establishing a court ordered program of Assisted Outpatient Treatment for the severely mentally ill.   Supervisor Thomson is a registered nurse, a graduate of the McLean Hospital School of Nursing in Boston, Massachusetts.  She is married to Captane P. Thomson, M.D.  They reside in Davis.

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  IHA (www.iha.org) is a California leadership group of health plans, physician groups, and health care systems, plus academic, purchaser, consumer, pharmaceutical, and new technology representatives, committed to policy development, public dialogue, and special projects associated with the continuing evolution of managed health care. 

 


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