OAKLAND, Calif., March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente has named a new president to lead its Colorado region. Donna Lynne, PhD, brings more than 20 years of experience to Kaiser Permanente, including seven years as executive vice president and chief operating officer of nonprofit Group Health Incorporated (GHI) in New York State. She recently assumed the role of president and chief executive officer at GHI’s newly acquired for-profit HMO. She will assume her post at Kaiser Permanente Colorado on April 4, 2005.
“Donna Lynne is a unique candidate, bringing to Kaiser Permanente a rich body of leadership experience in care delivery, health policy, and all aspects of health insurance,” said Leslie A. Margolin, National Senior Vice President of Health Plan and Hospital Operations at Kaiser Permanente’s national headquarters in Oakland, CA. “In addition, Donna is deeply experienced in human resources and labor relations, competencies that are important to us at Kaiser Permanente.”
“I’m looking forward to stepping in and carrying the momentum Kaiser Permanente Colorado has reached over the past several years,” said Lynne. “Patient satisfaction as well as employee and physician satisfaction is high. Kaiser Permanente care is considered to be among the best in the country by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. All of this comes at a time when the region’s medical teams are taking care of more and more Coloradans every day. It’s a great time to join this dedicated team.”
Lynne replaces Chris Binkley, the Colorado region president for the past six years. Binkley will take a position with the national Kaiser Permanente organization, supporting hospital strategy and facility planning efforts across the country.
As a Senior Vice President for New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, (HHC) under former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Lynne led administration, personnel and operational functions at HHC prior to joining Group Health Incorporated. She also led successful labor relations efforts at HHC and negotiated affiliation agreements with academic medical centers. In addition, she served as Giuliani’s operations director.
Lynne has a strong background in labor relations with the Mayor’s Office in New York. She also spent two years as Executive Director of the New York Business Group on Health, a non-profit business and health care coalition with 250 members, including large and small businesses, government, unions, health care providers, and insurance companies.
She earned her doctorate in public health from Columbia University and a Master’s of Public Administration in Public Finance from George Washington University.
She’s an avid skier, hiker and biker, and plans to relocate to Colorado in early April.
Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 8.2 million members in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Permanente Medical Groups.
Kaiser Permanente is the largest private health care provider in Colorado, caring for more than 436,000 members in the Denver/Boulder and Colorado Springs areas. Care is provided by 700 physicians -- the largest medical group in the state. It employs 4,500 staff, and reported revenues of $1.5 billion in 2004.
Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 140,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 11,000 physicians representing all specialties.
http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/
Kaiser Permanente
CONTACT: Mike Lassiter of Kaiser Permanente National Communications,+1-510-271-5953, or mike.lassiter@kp.org
Web site: http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/