The retiring leader of Louisiana's largest insurer leaves a legacy of growth and action on issues like obesity. But the next CEO will face the legacy uninsurance problem and a population beset with chronic disease.
Mike Reitz, chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, is preparing to retire in mid-2016, after 40 years at the company, almost half its existence.
A Louisiana native, Reitz joined the mutual insurer as HMOs were evolving and under the tenure of his father Howard Reitz, who served as president from 1966 to 1983. The younger Reitz then made his own mark, as CEO for the last five years, previously head of marketing and provider relations, and a champion of value-based healthcare and community causes promoting healthy eating and activity.
"As a collaborative and passionate leader, Mike Reitz leaves his distinctive mark on not just Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, but on the evolving healthcare system in our state and on the citizens of Louisiana," said the insurer's chairman Dan Borné, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association. "And because he has always been a nurturing steward of this company, he will be leaving it in a position of extraordinary strength." A national search has commenced seeking a replacement.
Reitz first took the CEO job on an interim basis in February 2004 when then-CEO Kathryn Sullivan (now a UnitedHealth central region executive) was asked to leave by the board amid apparent concerns about consulting spending. In 2008, Reitz again was interim leader after the four-year tenure of Gery Barry, who left for a strategy officer job with Aetna that only lasted a year (he's now president of pharmacy benefits company MedImpact).
Reitz has been among the longest-serving employees at the Baton Rouge-based insurer. He now has active golden years ahead of them to watch the course of initiatives he helped launch in value-based reimbursement, primary care and community-based wellness.
"For all things, there is a season, and my time is passing," Reitz said. "I look forward now, as I cross the finish line of my race, to passing the baton to a successor who will have an equal or greater passion for serving our customers first, and who will move our company to an even higher level."
Like other Blues and national insurers, BCBSLA is trying to partner with providers and "directly tie their payments to quality improvements that get better results for their patients," Reitz said.
"In addition to rewarding value-based care, we're using claims data in exciting new ways; we're building reports for providers so they can see how they compare to peers on cost and quality. And we're partnering with them to develop innovative, high-performing networks that give customers unsurpassed quality at reduced premiums."
BCBSLA embraced the new Affordable Care Act market, selling public exchange plans in every metal level in every parish and zip code in the state, while still garnering a consistent "A" rating by Standard & Poor's.
Under Reitz, BCBSLA has grown by several hundred thousand lives, with some 1.4 million members, about 30 percent of the state population. With a roughly two-thirds share of the insurance market, BCBSLA vies against the likes of Humana, UnitedHealthcare and the new Louisiana Health Cooperative.
At the same time, Louisiana has a murky health status. The state had the four highest pre-ACA uninsurance rate 22 percent, and with no expansion of Medicaid eligibility and not all that many flocking to the exchanges, that rate has dropped to only 20 percent. Add to that Louisiana's 33 percent adult obesity rate, 11 percent diabetes rate and 22 percent percent smoking rate, all among the highest 10 in the nation.
Solving all those problems is beyond the purview of a health insurance company, particularly the question of how to pay for coverage of those at lowest end of the income spectrum. Reitz and other leaders at the company, though, have been trying to make at least some influence in the healthy lifestyle equation.
Reitz authored the company's mission statement, "To improve the health and lives of Louisianians," and helped steer a good deal of its foundation spending towards community-based wellness projects, such as the $27 million Challenge for a Healthier Louisiana program and the Smart Bodies youth obesity reduction initiative.
In an interview last year with the Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge, Reitz said BCBSLA was uniquely positioned to guide the state population through its health problems -- and run a sustainable business.
"There are no investors on Wall Street that we have to transfer profits to. I think by virtue of the fact that we're set up as a mutual company owned by our policyholders gives us a big advantage because we don't need the margins in our products that other for-profit companies do," Reitz said. "Being local, I think, is a big advantage. Everybody knows how to find Mike Reitz or to find Blue Cross. We're highly visible throughout the community and we pride ourselves in being community neighbors. And I think in Louisiana, Louisianians like doing business with Louisianians. I think that serves as a real competitive advantage for us."