L.A. Care Health Plan announces new member of leadership team Gertrude “Trudi” Carter, M.D., joins as Chief Medical Officer
Los Angeles, CA - L.A. Care Health Plan is pleased to announce that Gertrude “Trudi” Carter, M.D., has accepted the position of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at L.A. Care, the largest public health plan in the country. She will join the organization November 19.
Carter is currently the CMO of CalOptima, a public health plan and the second largest insurer in Orange County, Calif., providing coverage to one in seven residents and almost a third of the community’s children.
In her capacity as the new CMO at L.A. Care, Carter will work closely with CEO Howard A. Kahn and the leadership team to develop and implement strategies and initiatives to ensure quality health care delivery to all of L.A. Care’s million plus members, some of the most vulnerable in the community. She will be responsible for the medical leadership of the organization and will work to enhance access and the quality of care provided through contracted plans and providers. In addition, Carter will serve as chair of several groups, including the Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Committee, and will oversee the community investment program and culture and linguistic services.
“I am very pleased that Dr. Carter has agreed to join our leadership team,” said Kahn. “A person of remarkable achievement, I am especially excited about Dr. Carter’s focus on improving the quality of health care provided through our health plan, by our providers and for our members. She knows our mission, having come from another respected public health plan; she understands our population, having worked with Medi-Cal and Medicare throughout her career; and she is familiar with our communities, having lived and worked here for 35 years. Her accomplishments at CalOptima alone, including the restructure of its medical management to include a catastrophic medical management program and the implementation of a program for seniors and persons with disabilities, make her an invaluable asset to our team.”
Prior to her position as CMO of CalOptima, Carter served as CMO for Schaller Anderson, Inc., a national health care management and consulting company that administers Medicaid health plans. The California region administers Orange County’s Medi-Cal plan for two networks with 80,000 plan members.
Previously, Dr. Carter served as CMO for Catholic Healthcare West, a regional hospital system providing services to patients in California, Arizona and Nevada. The Southern California division was comprised of 19 hospitals, both faith-based and community.
“This is a continued time of growth and innovation for L.A. Care,” said CEO Kahn, “and I am looking forward to the knowledge and expertise that Dr. Carter will provide. I am confident that with our strong leadership team and legion of committed and talented employees, we will meet the challenges ahead with the utmost ease and the greatest success.”
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About L.A. Care
L.A. Care Health Plan (Local Initiative Health Authority of Los Angeles County) is a public entity and community-accountable health plan serving residents of Los Angeles County through a variety of programs including Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, L.A. Care’s Healthy Kids, and L.A. Care Health Plan Medicare Advantage HMO. L.A. Care is a leader in developing new programs through innovative partnerships designed to provide health coverage to vulnerable populations and to support the safety net. With more than one million members, L.A. Care is the nation’s largest public health plan.
Contact:
Amy DuFour
(213) 694-1250 x 4389 | Office
(562) 857-4442 | Mobile
adufour@lacare.org
http://twitter.com/lacarehealth
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