Arthur M. Southam, MD, is executive vice president Health Plan Operations for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals — known as Kaiser Permanente, one of America’s leading integrated health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Kaiser Permanente serves 12.2 million members and provides more than $64 Billion per year in health services in eight states and the District of Columbia. Dr. Southam joined Kaiser Permanente in 2001 and has national responsibility for Health Plan marketing, sales, service, and administrative activities that support growth and customer service. He is dedicated to help lead Kaiser Permanente and the health care industry to deliver high quality, affordable health care and coverage to more Americans.

Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Southam was chief executive officer of two California-based health plans, Health Net and CareAmerica.

In addition to his leadership responsibilities with Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Southam serves as chairman of the CHRISTUS Health Board of Directors, an international Catholic health system. He is a member of the board of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, a non-profit alliance that helps streamline health care administration, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. He served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Quality of Health Care in America, contributing to the widely cited publications, To Err Is Human (pdf) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (pdf). He is a past chairman of the California Association of Health Plans.

Dr. Southam received his medical degree and Masters in Public Health from UCLA, and his MBA from Pepperdine University. He received his BA in Neuroscience from Amherst College.