David Klein to Assume Multiple Roles at the University of Rochester

David Klein – retiring CEO of The Lifetime Healthcare Companies, the parent company of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield – will join the University of Rochester as special advisor to the senior vice president and CEO of Medical Center and a faculty member in the Department of Public Health Sciences and the Simon Graduate School of Business. The appointment will be effective January 1, 2013.

“I am delighted to welcome David to the Medical Center and we look forward to benefiting from his vast experience and expertise,” said Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). “Health care is in the midst of a significant period of transformation as the nation moves to a system that focuses on cost containment and quality improvement. I can think of no better person than David to help guide this institution’s leadership and strengthen our health policy education and research programs.”

“I've always believed that health care financing and the delivery of health care are two sides of the same coin,” said Klein. “The bulk of my career has focused on the financing portion, but I believe both our health plan and our community have been in sync for more than seven decades on placing enormous emphasis on the quality and the efficiency of the local health care delivery system.”  

As special advisor, Klein will become a part of the URMC senior leadership team and report to the Medical Center CEO. It is anticipated that he will advise URMC leadership on issues related to strategy, health care delivery systems operations, financing, employee health benefits, regional affiliations, and government advocacy. 

Klein will also serve as a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences – formerly the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. In that role he will act as Special Assistant to the Chair, Susan Fisher, M.S., Ph.D., providing guidance and expertise regarding federal and state care reform and health policy. He will also collaborate with other faculty on student teaching and mentoring, curriculum development, and research. He will also serve as executive professor in the Simon School of Business where he will be guest lecturer in Medical Management Masters program and will help the school to develop new programs in the field of health care. Klein’s salary will be $1 per year. 

“David’s decades of experience in the realm of health care policy and finance will be invaluable to our department,” said Fisher. “Our faculty and students will benefit from knowledge, particularly as we grapple with the challenges and opportunities created in the wake of health care reform.”

“We are honored and delighted to welcome David to the Simon School faculty and look forward to the significant value that he will add as we enhance our existing programs in health care management,” said Mark Zupan, dean of the Simon School of Business. “David serves as a member of our Executive Advisory Committee and has been instrumental to the growth of health care management as an area of interest at Simon. He has guest lectured at Simon, and our students have benefitted from his wealth of experience and his perspective. David will provide valuable strategic guidance on our health care management offerings and to help ensure that our programs equip health care professionals for success.”

Klein has been a senior executive with The Lifetime Healthcare Companies and its predecessor companies since 1986, serving as CEO since 2003. The company includes Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Univera Healthcare, Lifetime Health Medical Group, Lifetime Care, EBS-RMSCO Benefit Solutions and MedAmerica. Before coming to Rochester, Klein worked for the BlueCross BlueShield Association and BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois. Earlier this year, Klein announced that he would be retiring from his position with The Lifetime Healthcare Companies at the end of 2012.  

Klein received his B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He resides in Pittsford.