Missouri’s largest health foundation has hired a new President and CEO who thinks the foundation will have to deal with a rapidly changing field in the next decade. The new head of the Missouri Foundation for Health is Dr Robert Hughes who has been with the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University.
Hughes expects healthcare to undergo significant change in the next five to ten years because of the Affordable Care Act and all of its consequences. He also says there will be opportunities for state and local agencies to take advantage of federal support from that act—-and the foundation has some programs to leverage those funds.
He takes over for Dr. James Kimmey, the founding president of the foundation when it was formed in 2001. The Missouri Foundation for Health was formed to hold the assets of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Eastern Missouri when they switched from non-profit to for-profit status. It serves 87 counties and the city of St. Louis.