Joan Kapowich, the longtime administrator of the Public Employees Benefit Board and the Oregon Educators Benefit Board, has quietly stepped down from her post atop PEBB and plans to retire from OEBB on Nov. 30.
Her interim replacement will be Kelly Ballas, a PEBB board member and the chief financial officer for the Oregon Health Authority.
“The decision was made by Joan. She had been considering her retirement,” PEBB chairman Sean Kolmer told The Lund Report. “The board felt safe with Kelly [Ballas] in as administrator as we worked through the RFP contract process.”
PEBB, which currently offers a self-insured health plan through Providence Health and a fully insured HMO through Kaiser Permanente, is redesigning its contract for the first time in a decade and may replace its two major health insurers – Providence Health Plan and Kaiser Permanente depending on the outcome of an RFP.
Ballas came to the Oregon Health Authority in 2011 from Kaiser Permanente. He had previously worked for Legacy Health, Care Oregon and Adventist Health. According to his government bio, the state hired Ballas away from Kaiser to work on the transformation of the Oregon Health Plan.
“He’s willing to stay on through the RFP process,” Kolmer said, indicating PEBB would recruit a new administrator sometime next year.
A replacement for Kapowich at OEBB has not been named.
Gov. John Kitzhaber has recently announced a shuffling of positions in his cabinet, with health policy advisor Mike Bonnetto becoming his new chief of staff, replacing Curtis Robinhold. Kolmer recently left his position as another of the governor’s health policy advisors to return to work under the umbrella of the Oregon Health Authority.
Kapowich’s departure came with less notice as PEBB is reviewing new contract bids through an RFP process. She had worked to craft the guidelines for the new contract, which will favor insurance companies who employ quality metrics and cost containment measures similar to the state Medicaid program’s coordinated care organizations.
Her exit also comes after she had participated in conferences this fall, showcasing the health engagement module and other aspects of her boards’ health programs before other state employee healthcare plans.
Kapowich was appointed to her position in Oct. 2007 during the tenure of Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Previously she had worked for the state Division of Medicaid Assistance Programs and as the medical services director for the State Accident Insurance Fund or SAIF Corp., the non-profit, state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance company.
Chris can be reached at [email protected].
