Excellus' Reed returning to regional president role July 1

DeWITT - James Reed, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (Excellus BCBS), will add to his duties when he becomes regional president

Reed will replace Dr. Arthur Vercillo, who is retiring from the position effective July 1, the nonprofit said in a news release issued in early June.

Vercillo will continue to devote his time to his local surgical practice, Excellus said. Rochester-based Excellus is Central New York's largest health insurer.

Reed previously held the regional president position from 2008 to 2009. He then moved into his current role as senior vice president of sales and marketing to help prepare the organization for "significant" changes resulting from passage of the Affordable Care Act, according to Excellus.

Reed calls his return to the regional president role a "natural progression" within his career.

"I don't know that it's a whole lot different than the priority was back in 2008 and 2009. It really centers on the affordability of health care in Central New York," Reed says of his position.

He spoke with CNYBJ on June 9.

Reed, who has worked for Excellus BCBS for 20 years, will oversee 850 Excellus employees who work in the Central New York offices, the organization said.

Excellus BCBS's Central New York region includes Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga, Tompkins, Oswego, Lewis, Jefferson, and St Lawrence counties.

Excellus serves nearly 1.6 million members in upstate New York.

Reed's new role "will expand his responsibilities," according to the company's news release.

In this role, he will combine his leadership of marketing and sales with the additional responsibility of "supporting and maintaining business and ... provider networks in Central New York," the nonprofit said.

"Jim has established strong relationships with customers, vendors, brokers, providers, employers and community leaders in the Central New York region," Christopher Booth, CEO of Excellus BCBS, said in the news release. "He brings an expansive knowledge of our business and proven track record of leadership success to the regional president's position."

Reed earned a bachelor's degree in business and a master's degree in business administration from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, according to Excellus.

Health-care costs

With his focus on sales and marketing, Reed interacts with customers, employers, physicians, and hospital executives.

"The message that I continue to hear is that health care is very expensive. It's becoming unaffordable for certain segments of the population and that at the pace of growth that we've seen over the past several years, it's not sustainable out into the future," says Reed.

Even though he's previously served in the role of regional president, Reed believes his additional duties could be more challenging this time with the Affordable Care Act in place, noting the legislation has provided "more tax and regulation" on health-care plans.

Excellus BCBS health-care plans are available to both large groups and through New York State of Health, the state's health-insurance marketplace.

Reed says it doesn't matter whether it's a very large employer that's purchasing coverage on behalf of its employees or an individual consumer going through the exchange, or a Medicare-eligible enrollee.

"All are really focused on the premium that's being charged relative to the benefits and out-of-pocket costs and the quality of the provider network and ... the quality of the health plan that they're considering," he adds.

2014 financials

Excellus BCBS reported an operating loss of $55 million last year, which it attributed primarily to losses in its Medicaid Managed Care line of business.

CNYBJ asked Reed how the Central New York region could help Excellus' effort to trim that operating loss.

"The Medicaid market in general is a very challenging market for health plans to operate in. I don't believe we're alone in the operating loss that we experienced in 2014 ... as the state continues to evolve the Medicaid program, it really is incumbent on health plans like Excellus to continue to hone and revise our business model for that segment to ensure sustainability long term," says Reed.

Despite the operating loss, Excellus posted net income of $24 million in 2014, due to "stronger-than-expected" investment income, the insurer said in a news release issued Feb. 27.

The release provided highlights of its annual financial statement that it filed the same day with the New York State Department of Financial Services.