乌镇巷舍庭院酒店电话:A call for teamwork

A call for teamwork

Blue Cross-Blue Shield CEO says insurers, state must cooperate

By Robert Weisman

Globe Staff / April 13, 2010

William C. Van Faasen, back in the chief executive’s seat at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts for only three weeks, finds himself battling state regulators over their rejection of proposed health premium hikes for individuals and small businesses.

But sounding like a reluctant warrior, Van Faasen says it’s time for health insurers to shed their armor and work with state officials and health care providers to slow the constant rise in health costs. A Suffolk County Superior Court judge yesterday denied a motion that would have let six insurance carriers, including Blue Cross-Blue Shield, boost rates 8 to 32 percent for what is known as the small group market.

“I won’t invest any energy of mine, and I don’t want the company to invest any, in arguing that the current rate of increase in health care costs is appropriate,’’ Van Faasen said in an interview in the insurer’s headquarters in Landmark Center near Fenway Park.

Referring to Governor Deval Patrick’s vow to deny insurance premium increases he deemed excessive, which led to the April 1 rate rejections, Van Faasen said, “If his intention was to send a message to the community, then I think he’s achieved his goal. It’s time to get to work’’ to tackle the cost burden on families and businesses, he said.

Van Faasen, 61, ran the state’s largest health insurer for 13 years before retiring in 2005 and passing the chief executive’s mantle to his deputy, Cleve Killingsworth.

When Killingsworth resigned abruptly March 13, the board asked Van Faasen to return on an interim basis. He soon found himself in the midst of a dispute over escalating health care costs that is drawing national attention.

Although he said he has been content sitting on corporate boards and enjoying a low-profile retirement for the past five years, Van Faasen did not hesitate to jump back into the fray when called.

He finds the current problems “complex and troubling’’ but also solvable. “These periods of high intensity and difficult problem solving are fun,’’ he said. He is serving as interim chief executive without pay, partly, he said, because he feels a responsibility to help pull the industry out of the current morass.

Van Faasen, who has spent nearly four decades in health insurance, said the industry is undergoing “a generational change’’ as the health care system is overhauled in Massachusetts and nationally. He said payment systems and reimbursement formulas “have to catch up’’ by developing products around limited or tiered networks of providers and giving consumers incentives to make more informed choices about medical care.

Paul F. Levy, chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said he agreed with Van Faasen that it’s time for all parties to tackle the issue of mounting health care costs. But Levy said one prerequisite for doing that is to publish data on the prices of medical services at hospitals across Massachusetts, something insurance companies have been reluctant to do..

“You can’t talk about costs and prices unless people know what the costs and prices are,’’ said Levy, who believes some hospitals have used their market clout to pressure insurers into higher reimbursements. “That publicity helps to create a moral force and a business argument for reducing health care costs in the state.’’

Van Faasen acknowledged it may take years for new payment systems to emerge. And since the Blue Cross-Blue Shield board has yet to form a search committee to hunt for a permanent successor to Killingsworth, his tenure as interim chief executive may last longer than expected.

“My advice to the board was, ‘Let’s just calm down for a while and try to get our arms around the issue,’ ’’ Van Faasen said. He acknowledged there is at least a possibility that he might return to run the company on a full-time basis.

For now, Van Faasen has his hands full. Blue Cross-Blue Shield posted a $149.2 million operating loss in 2009, and it lost members because of mounting layoffs at companies that buy its insurance. Van Faasen said the insurer is likely to lose money again this year, particularly if the court upholds the state’s right to limit premium increases to a level at which, he insisted, carriers can’t make money.

“We really had no alternative but to respond the way we did’’ by joining with five other insurers to sue the state, he said.

But he said he is eager to work with other parties to reverse the trend of double-digit premium increases.

Van Faasen is not the only one thinking along those lines. State Senate President Therese Murray is expected to unveil a proposal tomorrow aimed at resolving the health care standoff and finding a solution to the problem of climbing costs.

“It’s important that both the insurers and providers know we are moving forward to contain costs,’’ said Murray, who said she welcomed a dialogue with Van Faasen and other insurance leaders.

“Everybody’s scared about what change will bring,’’ she said. “But we can’t sustain these cost increases on our businesses and individuals. The cost of health care means that businesses can’t afford to hire anyone.’’

When he stepped down five years ago, Van Faasen was criticized for taking home more than $16 million in retirement benefits. But he believes the complaints were not warranted. “The company didn’t give it to me,’’ he said. “I spent 37 years earning it’’ through incentive programs heading Blue Cross-Blue Shield organizations in Massachusetts and Michigan.

Now he finds himself on the hot seat again. “If I could have totally written the script, it wouldn’t have worked out the way it has,’’ he said. “But the board and the company needed help. I felt a duty.’’