Speaker Profile
M.D., MSc, President and CEO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Biography
Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina as president and CEO-elect on Oct. 1, 2017. He will succeed Brad Wilson as CEO at Wilson’s retirement by the end of 2017. Conway most recently served as Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In this role he also held the position of Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). As the most senior non-political leader at CMS, he worked in both Republican and Democratic administrations and is considered one of the driving forces behind the national movement to value-based care, with health care payments tied to quality and innovation. At Blue Cross NC, Conway is continuing that commitment to delivering the best health outcomes and best service experience at the lowest cost for customers. The company is a leader in improving North Carolina’s health care system, making health care more affordable and working with doctors, hospitals and others to improve quality and value. Blue Cross NC strives to be a model health plan and health solutions company. Conway joined CMS in 2011 as the agency’s Chief Medical Officer and served as Principal Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator. A respected leader, innovator and clinician, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2014. Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, recognizing individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement. He is a practicing pediatric hospitalist and was selected as a master of hospital medicine from the Society of Hospital Medicine. Before joining CMS, he oversaw clinical operations and quality improvement at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, with a focus on improving patient outcomes across the entire multi-billion dollar health system. Conway completed his pediatrics residency at Harvard Medical School’s Children’s Hospital Boston, graduated with high honors from Baylor College of Medicine, and graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M University.
