Humana CEO Bruce Broussard will step down from his role after a decade in 2024, and Envision Healthcare CEO Jim Rechtin will be his successor, the company said Oct. 11.
Mr. Rechtin will start as chief operating officer at Humana in January and transition to the CEO role later in the year when Mr. Broussard steps down, the company said. Here are five things to know about the Louisville, Ky.-based insurer's next leader:
- Mr. Rechtin has led Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Healthcare since 2020. The physician services company and ambulatory services operator faced a series of financial challenges, including being dropped from UnitedHealthcare's network in 2021 and filing for bankruptcy in May 2023. On Oct. 11, the same day Humana named Mr. Rechtin CEO, Envision said it would split from ASC operator AmSurg and emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the month.
- Mr. Rechtin has more than 22 years of healthcare experience. He was briefly president of OptumCare from June to November 2019. He spent several years as senior vice president of strategy and California market president at DaVita Medical Group, a kidney care provider. DaVita was acquired by Optum in 2019. Before entering the provider space, he spent 14 years at management consulting firm Bain & Co., advising healthcare companies. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Greencastle, Ind.-based DePauw University and an MBA from Boston-based Harvard Business School.
- Humana chose Mr. Rechtin as its next leader for his "first-hand experience leading through challenges and opportunities of a changing health care services continuum," Kurt Hilzinger, chair of Humana's board of directors, said in an Oct. 11 news release. Outgoing Humana CEO Bruce Broussard said Mr. Rechtin's experience working with clinicians will support Humana's "growing clinical footprint and continuing evolution as a healthcare company."
- Mr. Rechtin has criticized insurers in the past. In an article he penned for The Tennessean in March, Mr. Rechtin wrote that insurers are "hiding behind the No Surprises Act to cut physician compensation, often pocketing the money for themselves instead of passing it on to the employer or patients."
- Healthcare is not Mr. Rechtin's only area of expertise. In August, he delivered a TED talk demonstrating how ranked choice voting works by selecting the greatest rap artist of all time.