LA Care taps Health Net exec as CEO

Health Net executive Martha Santana-Chin will take the helm at LA Care Health Plan after CEO John Baackes retires next month, the company announced Friday.

Santana-Chin will join LA Care Health Plan from Centene subsidiary Health Net, where she is president of Medicaid operations. Santana-Chin has held various positions at Health Net since 2013, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Related: LA Care Health Plan CEO John Baackes to retire later this year

LA Care announced in April that Baackes would leave the largest publicly operated health insurance company after nine years at the beginning of 2025. Santana-Chin will be CEO effective Jan. 6, the company said in a news release Friday.

"I have a profound sense of responsibility to LA's low-income families and look forward to collaborating with the remarkable team at LA Care, its board and its community stakeholders to continue advancing equity in healthcare," Santana-Chin said in the news release.

Santana-Chin chairs the board of directors for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Integrated Healthcare Association, a trade group that represents providers and insurers including LA Care and Health Net.

She holds a bachelor's degree in finance from California State University, Long Beach, and a master of business administration from the University of California, Irvine.

“This historic appointment of a versatile and dynamic Latina community leader to help the nation’s largest publicly operated health plan bodes well for patients and providers across greater Los Angeles,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis (D), who sits on the LA Care board of governors, said in the news release.