Health Care Hall of Fame Past Inductees

Inducted in 2001

In the 1950s, Sigmond began advocating for community participation in healthcare, a concept he would push until, eventually, sweeping mandates were instituted in the 1970s. Sigmond's focus was always on the patient, and it would frustrate him that administrators during the time would “concern themselves with the problems of the medical staff, the hospital building—it was never about the people,” he once said. After working as a statistician in Philadelphia with the Governor's Commission on Hospital Facilities, Standards and Organization, he would meet fellow Hall-of-Famer C. Rufus Rorem at the Hospital Council of Philadelphia. Rorem would become Sigmond's mentor, and the two would go on to collaborate on establishing the Blue Cross plans. During Sigmond's career, he would also become director of fiscal studies at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, serve as a longtime adviser to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and work as a consultant to the American Hospital Association.