Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Brad Wilson is retiring

Feb. 13--Brad Wilson, who steered the state's largest health insurer through the turbulence created by the Affordable Care Act, is retiring from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.

The Durham-based insurer announced Monday that Wilson, who has been president and CEO since February 2010 -- a month before the ACA was signed into law -- is retiring later this year. Wilson will turn 64 in a few weeks.

"As a reflection of his leadership, Blue Cross is well-positioned to continue to serve North Carolina and represent our state's interests in the rapidly evolving health care industry," Frank Holding Jr., chair of the insurer's board of trustees, said in a prepared statement. Holding is CEO of Raleigh-based First Citizens Bank.

Blue Cross, which has 4,800 employees, is one of only two insurers to offer ACA insurance plans in North Carolina and the only one that offers them in all 100 counties.

"Now is a good time to transition leadership to the next CEO -- one who will lead Blue Cross through the next wave of health care reform just as I have been fortunate to do for the last seven years," Wilson said in a statement.

Wilson wasn't available for an interview Monday.

During Wilson's tenure, according to the company, Blue Cross launched cost transparency tools that provide pricing and quality information for more than 1,000 non-emergency tests and procedures; consolidated its Triangle employees at its Durham campus; opened a customer service center in Fayetteville; and began a shift to "value-based care."

The insurer's value-based initiatives include bundled payments for orthopedic procedures that it says reduce costs by up to 30 percent while improving outcomes.

But Wilson's tenure also also included a technology fiasco that last year prompted the state Department of Insurance to levy a record $3.6 million fine against the company. The fine, which the insurer agreed to, came after thousands of customers complained they were double-billed, dropped from coverage or assigned to the wrong health plans.

The year before the technology snafu, Wilson received a 34 percent pay raise that brought his total compensation package to $3.8 million.

Holding said that the board will consider both internal and external candidates to succeed Wilson.

David Ranii: 919-829-4877, @dranii

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