CEO Corner

July 31 2008

Chairman and CEO George Halvorson Named Chairman of the Partnership for Quality Care

The Partnership for Quality Care has named Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO George Halvorson as its next chairman.

The PQC is a coalition of health care providers and health care workers dedicated to guaranteed, affordable, high-quality health care for every man, woman, and child in America. Members of the PQC – among them Kaiser Permanente, several units of the Service Employees International Union, the Greater New York Hospital Association, Group Health Cooperative in Washington state, and HealthPartners in Minnesota – care for more than 50 million Americans.

Halvorson accepted his appointment July 31 at the partnership's annual board meeting in Washington, D.C. In his remarks he noted that the organization must work to keep the issue of health care reform top-of-mind as other national issues – the cost of energy, for example – dominate the national dialogue in a presidential election year.

"Concerns over health care costs remain a bottom-line problem for everyone, from families to employers to labor unions," said Halvorson. "But fixing the financing of American health care is not enough.  The only way to improve quality and affordability over the long-term is to deliver better care."

Dennis Rivera, chairman of SEIU Healthcare, served as PQC's inaugural chairman. Earlier this year, the organization kicked off a series of events that brought attention to real-world programs that improve quality and affordability as the United States discusses health care reform.

For more information, check out the PQC's Web site.