Pamela Kehaly

Pam Kehaly is the president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. Previously, she was president of Anthem’s West region (which includes California, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Nevada and Wisconsin) and the Specialty business (which includes dental, vision, life, disability, workers’ compensation and voluntary business areas). Anthem is a Fortune 50 company and one of the nation’s leading health benefits companies. Kehaly previously served as president of the Anthem Blue Cross plan in California, and the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Colorado and Nevada. Prior to that, she was president of national accounts at Aetna, where she was responsible for nine million members. Kehaly started her career with Blue Cross of California in 1986, where she worked in a variety of roles from operations to profit and loss management.

Kehaly received a bachelor’s in business administration from California State University, Stanislaus. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Southern California and Nevada National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and is an active member of the Los Angeles division of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Additionally, she served on Governor Brown’s “Let’s Get Healthy Task Force,” to develop a vision and framework to improve the health of all Californians.

She was the driving force behind Vivity, a first-in-the-nation joint venture between an insurer and seven hospital systems to align financial incentives behind better outcomes. She was also a leader in Patient Safety First (PSF), a collaborative between Anthem, the National Health Foundation and California’s regional hospital associations. In the first three years in existence, PSF’s work helped reduce early elective deliveries and hospital-acquired infections, leading to 3,576 fewer deaths and more than $63 million in otherwise unnecessary hospital costs. In recognition of the collaborative work, PSF won the 2013 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety & Quality Award from the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission.