Prominent health insurance executive Daniel Hilferty, president and CEO of Independence Health Group, is retiring at the end of this year, the company said Tuesday.
Philadelphia-based Independence, the parent company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliate Independence Blue Cross, chose Gregory Deavens, its executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, to take the helm starting Jan. 1, 2021. Hilferty will continue to be an advisor to the insurer through the end of 2022.
Hilferty has led Independence for the last 10 years, and before that headed up the company's Medicaid subsidiary AmeriHealth Caritas for 13 years. During his tenure as CEO, he also served as the chairman of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association from 2015 to 2017.
Independence has $27 billion in revenue under management and serves 8 million people, according to the company. It operates in 27 states and D.C. and employs 11,500 people.
Independence credited Hilferty with driving the movement to value-based care models in the region and playing a major role in establishing and stabilizing the Affordable Care Act exchange in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Hilferty also oversaw the expansion of AmeriHealth Caritas into a dozen states beyond Pennsylvania and launched the subsidiary's in-house pharmacy benefit manager, the company said.
During Hilferty's tenure, Independence also struck up a digital health joint venture with Comcast and launched the Independence Blue Cross Foundation and the Independence Blue Cross Center for Innovation.
Independence said beyond handling all the financial functions of the company, Deavens also plays a key role in strategy. He led the company's purchase of a new headquarters in June and directed the design of the Center for Innovation. Before coming to Independence, he spent 10 years at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. as a senior vice president and corporate controller.