Hayden resigns as GHC CEO

May 15--Kevin Hayden has resigned as CEO of Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, and Dr. Mark Huth, medical officer, has been named interim CEO, Group Health said Friday.

"Kevin has indicated that he understands that the board wishes to move in a different direction and, therefore, he has decided to move on to new challenges in his professional career," Ken Machtan, president of Group Health's board, said in a statement.

The board will search for a new CEO, Machtan said.

Hayden had been on leave for reasons the HMO wouldn't explain. Group Health lost $18.7 million last year after losing $15.7 million in 2013 and $5.5 million in 2012.

The HMO made $364,000 the first quarter of this year and expects a "substantial improvement over 2014," Machtan has said.

"Many of the investments we've made in the organization are finished," Huth said Friday in an interview. "Now, it's a question of using those investments to return to profitability."

Meanwhile, three candidates elected Thursday to Group Health's board were endorsed by unions that expressed concern over the losses.

Winning three-year seats were Ann Hoyt, a UW-Madison emeritus professor who is an expert on cooperatives; Bill Oemichen, president and CEO of the Cooperative Network; and Judy Ziewacz, a consultant on home care cooperatives and senior housing.

Madison Teachers Inc. and five other Madison-based unions asked members to vote for the three, who were among 11 candidates for the board.

"MTI cannot stand idly by and watch GHC disappear," John Matthews, the teacher union's executive director, wrote in a letter last month.

The other unions are AFSCME Local 6000, Building and Construction Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers AFL-CIO Local 2304, Fire Fighters Local 311 and Madison Professional Police Officers Association.

The unions' letters to members last month said Group Health recently hired 14 doctors plus other staff, and "erroneously thought they could sell sufficient new members to offset the cost of the hiring."

About 2,015 members of Madison Teachers Inc. and roughly 900 members of the other unions have Group Health insurance. They and their family members are among about 82,000 people with Group Health.

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