Artie Southam

Arthur M. Southam, MD, is executive vice president of health plan operations and chief growth officer for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Hospitals. In this role, Dr. Southam oversees the health plan’s marketing, sales, service, and administration activities with a focus on sustainable membership growth. Southam also oversees the business development team, which defines, supports, and prioritizes new growth opportunities for the organization.

Dr. Southam reports directly to Kaiser Permanente’s chair and chief executive officer, and is a member of the National Executive Team.

Dr. Southam joined Kaiser Permanente in 2001.

Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Southam was chief executive officer of 2 California-based health plans: Health Net and CareAmerica.

Dr. Southam serves on the board for CHRISTUS Health, an international Catholic health system. He is chairman of the board of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, a nonprofit alliance that helps streamline health care administration, and a member of the board of advisors of the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. He served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Quality of Health Care in America, contributing to the widely cited publications, To Err Is Human (pdf) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (pdf). He is a past chairman of the California Association of Health Plans.

Dr. Southam received his medical degree and master’s degree in public health from UCLA, and his MBA from Pepperdine University. He received his BA in neuroscience from Amherst College.