Highmark Health Announces Western PA Market Leadership Transitions to Strengthen, Advance Living Health Model
Highmark Health today announced leadership changes impacting the organization’s western Pennsylvania market operations, including its insurance arm Highmark Inc. and its anchor provider system Allegheny Health Network (AHN). The moves, intended to further strengthen and advance Highmark Health’s transformative Living Health model, include the transition of Cynthia Hundorfean, AHN’s President and CEO, into a new enterprise role as Chief Living Health Development Officer and the appointment of Bruce A. Meyer, MD, MBA, to serve in a newly created position as Executive Vice President and Western PA Market President for Highmark Health.
Hundorfean joined Highmark Health as AHN’s president in 2016 and has been the chief architect of the Network’s considerable growth and success over the past five years. Under her leadership, the network has executed a nearly $2 billion capital investment and transformation strategy that has dramatically expanded its facility and programmatic footprint across the greater western Pennsylvania region, while also bringing leading-edge technologies, key academic and clinical partnerships, and other innovative solutions to the market.
She has also been instrumental in establishing AHN’s role as the anchor provider and pacesetter for Highmark Health’s Living Health strategy to build a more holistic, blended payer- provider health ecosystem that leverages shared data, analytics, and clinical innovation to better achieve the quadruple aim of improving the patient and clinician experience, improving health outcomes, and reducing costs.
“One of the great things about being part of a large, innovative and integrated health enterprise like Highmark Health, with its broad geographic footprint and influence, is the ability that we have to share and export everything we have learned, developed and accomplished in the pursuit of our Living Health model to other providers and potential partners,” said Hundorfean, whose new position takes effect on January 1, 2023. “That’s why I am so excited to assume this new role that will enable me to have a much broader impact on the transformation of health care regionally and nationally beyond all the amazing things we are doing at AHN.”
In her new enterprise role, Hundorfean will continue to report to Highmark Health President and Chief Executive Officer David Holmberg and will focus on advocating for the Living Health model and its advantages with provider systems, clinical leaders, and other key stakeholders across the region and nation.
Dr. Meyer joins Highmark Health after serving as President of Jefferson Health in Philadelphia and Senior Executive Vice President of Thomas Jefferson University. He also is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Population Health at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College.
At Jefferson, Dr. Meyer had responsibility for overseeing the health system’s multitude of clinical services offered across Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties, including 18 hospitals and more than 50 outpatient and urgent care centers. Jefferson Health is also home to the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, and one of the largest faculty-based telehealth networks in the country. The network employees approximately 37,000 people, including nearly 3,500 physicians and 9,600 nurses.
Under Dr. Meyer’s direction, in 2021, Jefferson Health also became the sole owner of HealthPartners Plan (HPP), a not-for-profit health maintenance organization in Southeastern Pennsylvania that serves more than 345,000 people. The venture marked the first blended payer-provider partnership in the Philadelphia region and Dr. Meyer served as chair of the HPP Board of Trustees.
Prior to his role as President of Jefferson Health, Dr. Meyer was Executive VP for Health System Affairs, Executive Director of the Faculty Practice Plan and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications and has won multiple teaching awards while serving as a residency and fellowship program director, and Academic Chair.
In his new capacity at Highmark Health, Dr. Meyer will report to Chief Operating Officer Karen Hanlon and have responsibility for overseeing Highmark Health’s blended payer-provider strategy in the western Pennsylvania market, including the operations of both Highmark Insurance and AHN. James Benedict, AHN’s Chief Operating Officer, will report to Dr. Meyer and serve as point for the health system’s daily operations and growth strategy.
“Highmark Health is on the forefront of the transformation in health care that is so essential to the future of our industry and the very health of our nation, as we transition from a fee for service, reactionary delivery model to a value-driven, health and wellness model that provides better overall health experiences and outcomes for everyone,” said Dr. Meyer. “This is a tremendous opportunity to join an innovative, visionary leadership team and culture that is setting the standard in value-based care that others will be measured by.”
Dr. Meyer will officially join Highmark Health on December 5, 2022.
Hanlon said Highmark Health’s ability to retain and attract exceptionally talented, forward-thinking executives like Hundorfean, Benedict and Dr. Meyer, and leaders at every level, is a testament to the organization’s growing reputation as a trailblazer in the quest to reinvent health care.
“Every day we are approached by the best and brightest health care executives and clinicians from around the country who want to be part of the transformation that our Living Health model represents,” said Hanlon. “To succeed, we must have the right leaders in the right places, and today’s news is another great step forward for our organization in that regard.”
Holmberg further underscored the importance of these changes. “The work we are embarking on is critical to our success. This is a pivotal moment in the execution of our strategy – a milestone which will further enable our objective to reinvent health care and that provides another opportunity for us to do what no one else has done before.”
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About Highmark Health
Highmark Health, a Pittsburgh, PA-based enterprise that employs more than 37,000 people who serve millions of Americans across the country, is the parent company of Highmark Inc., Allegheny Health Network, enGen, Helion, and Lumevity. Highmark Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates provide health insurance to more than 6 million members in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and New York, as well as dental insurance, and related health products through a national network of diversified businesses. Allegheny Health Network is an integrated delivery network in western Pennsylvania comprised of 14 hospitals, more than 2,600 affiliated physicians, ambulatory surgery centers, an employed physician organization, home and community-based health services, a research institute, a group purchasing organization, and health and wellness pavilions. enGen is focused on meeting the information technology platform and other business needs of the Highmark Health enterprise as well as unaffiliated health insurance plans by providing proven business processes, expert knowledge, and integrated cloud-based platforms. Helion works with payers to cultivate high-performing networks while empowering providers to operate at their best. Lumevity helps companies transform in ways that drive direct financial benefits while improving quality and increasing employee engagement. To learn more, visit www.highmarkhealth.org.
About AHN
Allegheny Health Network (AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated health care delivery system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. The network is composed of 14 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, Health + Wellness Pavilions, an employed physician organization, home- and community-based health services, a research institute, and a group purchasing organization. AHN provides patients with access to a complete spectrum of advanced medical services, including nationally recognized programs for primary and emergency care, cardiovascular disease, cancer care, orthopedic surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, women’s health, diabetes and more. AHN employs approximately 21,000 people, has more than 2,600 physicians on its medical staff, and serves as a clinical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
