Anthem has appointed Dr. Craig Samitt as its chief clinical officer, adding a prominent physician to the health insurer's cadre of executives.
Samitt, 51, will help set clinical protocols at the profitable Indianapolis-based insurance company, which is buying Cigna Corp. in a deal valued at $54.2 billion.
Samitt has spent the past year working as a consultant for Oliver Wyman. Before that, he served as CEO of HealthCare Partners, a Torrance, Calif.-based physician network that was acquired by kidney-care company DaVita HealthCare Partners in 2012. Samitt held that chief executive post for a year before resigning last August. The company never disclosed why he left.
HealthCare Partners, which treats patients on a fixed-sum, capitated basis, has struggled financially since its acquisition.
This will not be Samitt's first stint in managed care. He is the former CEO of Dean Health Systems, a Madison, Wis.-based network of clinics that also owns a large health plan. Dean Health has since been purchased by SSM Health, a multistate health system based in St. Louis. Samitt also was a senior vice president at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, an insurer based in the New England area.
In addition to his role at Anthem, Samitt will continue his work as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent agency that advises Congress on all Medicare issues. Samitt was reappointed as a MedPAC member in May.
