Details left out of CEO's resume

By Deborah Hill Cone

Friday 14th June 2002

Distressed health insurer Southern Cross has edited the public resume of its new chief executive, leaving out his controversial role as a promoter of managed care.

Ian McPherson was the driving force in getting doctors to sign up to managed-care agreements in his role as chief executive of Aetna's managed care subsidiary, Prime Health, between 1993 to 1999.

In July 1998 Aetna described Dr McPherson as "instrumental in building networks of doctors and patients in the Bay of Plenty and the Waikato who operate under the umbrella of Prime Health and First Health."

But this week's press release from Southern Cross, which a spokeswoman described as "detailing his entire work history," omits to mention his role as a proponent of managed care. And his CV was not available, the PR woman said.

The release dwells on his experience working with the Red Cross in the early 1980s but leaves out the major part of his career in health insurance, which was working in managed care.

Managed care is a system, a bit like bulk funding in education, where medical professionals agree in advance to the total cost of an individual's healthcare.

Participants then carry the risk, giving them an incentive to keep costs down and meaning they are held accountable for outcomes.

The Prime Health initiative, which Dr McPherson started, caused an uproar among some in the medical profession, although many GPs embraced the system because if they performed well they had a chance in sharing the profit upside.

Opposition was particularly vociferous from high-paid medical specialists who see "managed care" as dirty words.

Southern Cross has publicly scorned managed care but when it acquired Aetna it left the Bay of Plenty and Waikato managed care initiatives to continue.

Dr McPherson was in Vietnam this week, Southern Cross' PR firm said.

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