On this sunny August afternoon, joggers and cyclists pass by Mark Ganz as he strolls along the Willamette River in downtown Portland, a missionary preaching about health care.

Doctors used to be like his father, a family practitioner. "He spent a lot of time with his patients," Ganz says. But when the retired doctor got sick a decade ago, his own physicians missed symptoms of bone marrow cancer until it was too late. Today's time-pressed health providers don't have the same "human touch," he says.

Ganz, a trim 51-year-old in light chinos, is in a position to change that; he's the CEO over Regence BlueCross BlueShield, one of Oregon's largest health plans. Ganz's reform agenda has transformed the staid nonprofit into an aggressive health services conglomerate whose internal literature states it is "positioning to win."

Changes in federal health laws are barreling down on his industry and the country at large that espouse the same goals Ganz has advocated for years: better care, eliminate waste.

"His philosophy and ideal is that if we want to change the world we have to change ourselves first," says Louis Machuca, a board member for Cambia Health Solutions, the parent company of Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon and counterparts in Washington, Utah and Idaho. Ganz heads Cambia as well.

Regence is breaking new ground with award-winning technologies aimed at helping consumers understand the true costs of services, says Ganz. Health care should work more like other industries, he adds, which is why he brought executives from Nordstroms and Starbucks onto his board of directors.

Not everyone appreciates Ganz's efforts. In recent years, the company once considered the conscience of the region's health insurers has steadily lost members, raised rates and become a lightning rod for complaints over slashed benefits.

Some fear the changes Ganz is leading threaten to undermine federal reforms, rather than further them.

Critics "don't understand what we're doing," says Ganz. "I find it interesting that people would be quick to criticize the current health care system, and then when a player like us steps forward and says 'We are willing to change, we are willing to challenge our long-held business model to achieve a greater good,' that we would be criticized.

"In fact, I'm proud of it," he says.

Go here to see the original:

Health plan CEO touts reform, makes waves with Regence BlueCross BlueShield, others