Charles N. Kahn III
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Charles N. Kahn III ("Chip") is President of the Federation of American Hospitals, the national advocacy organization for investor-owned hospitals and health systems. Mr. Kahn became the Federation's President in June 2001
Mr. Kahn is one of the nation's preeminent experts on health policy and Medicare issues, and his leadership on health care issues and in the political arena is well recognized. Since becoming President of the Federation, he has appeared every year on the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" list published by Modern Healthcare magazine. In April, 2006, The Hill newspaper selected him as one of the capital's top trade association lobbyists for the sixth consecutive year. Mr. Kahn also has been acknowledged as one of two "major movers" of an effort sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to bring together a diverse coalition of often-opposing major national advocacy organizations to seek solutions to extending health coverage to the uninsured.
At the national level, Mr. Kahn plays a prominent leadership role in efforts to instill greater accountability and innovation in health care. In June of 2006, he was named to a newly formed health care stakeholder group known as the Quality Alliance Steering Committee, which was developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and which includes principals of the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) and the Ambulatory Quality Alliance (AQA). Among the responsibilities of the Quality Alliance Steering Committee are bringing together medical best practices information, setting the criteria for local private/public health care collaboratives, harmonizing clinical measures, developing efficiency measures, and creating pricing metrics and consumer information.
The HQA, which Mr. Kahn helped to establish and of which he is a principal, links the hospital industry and other providers with consumers, payers, employers, and the federal government to advance hospital quality through the reporting of measures. HQA also is responsible for recommending an agenda for hospital quality measurement and reporting, which includes the hospital measures reported on Hospital Compare, a website that reports credible, user-friendly information hosted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (available at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov and www.medicare.gov).
Mr. Kahn is at the forefront of efforts to improve quality through the diffusion of health information technology. On September 13, 2005, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt appointed him as a Commissioner and hospital industry representative for the American Health Information Community, a federal advisory panel responsible for providing guidance to the Secretary for the development, certification, and setting of national digital and interoperability standards for electronic health information technology.
Mr. Kahn is regarded widely by policymakers and other stakeholders as one of the nation's top leaders in the effort to expand health coverage to the nation's uninsured. Prior to joining the Federation of American Hospitals, he was one of the nation's foremost leaders of the health insurance industry. From 1998 to 2001, while serving as President of the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), the organization, under his leadership, dramatically increased its membership and prestige, and was named by Fortune magazine for three consecutive years as the nation's most influential insurance trade association in its "Power 25" list of Washington, DC-based lobbying organizations.
During his tenure as HIAA President, Mr. Kahn played a key role in developing the "strange bedfellows" coalition of insurers, employers, providers, and consumer groups to refocus public attention to the plight of the nation's uninsured. In a move applauded by traditional critics of the health insurance industry, he brought back, as advocates for the uninsured, "Harry and Louise", the fictional couple appearing in earlier HIAA advertisements that questioned specific aspects of President Clinton's health reform proposal. This earlier ground-breaking ad campaign, which Mr. Kahn managed during his tenure from 1993 through 1994 as HIAA's Executive Vice President, was characterized by Advertising Age magazine as "among the best conceived and executed public affairs advertising programs in history".
Mr. Kahn has a long and distinguished career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill, specializing in health policy issues. During 1995-1998, he played a pivotal role in developing major health legislation while serving as staff director for the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. During this time, his efforts facilitated approval of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Medicare provisions of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act (BBA).
From 1986 to 1993, Mr. Kahn helped to shape every piece of national health entitlement legislation while serving as minority health counsel for the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. From 1983 to 1986, he was senior health policy advisor to former Senator David Durenberger (R-MN) and legislative assistant for health to former Senator Dan Quayle (R-IN).
Early in his career, Mr. Kahn directed the Office of Financial Management Education at the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) - where he worked primarily on developing the health care financial management curriculum - after completing an administrative residency with the Teaching Hospital Department of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Mr. Kahn is a member of the Board of Directors of Zix Corporation, a global provider of secure e-messaging, e-prescribing, and e-transaction applications and services, and serves as the Chairman of its Nominating and Governance Committee. He has numerous other academic and advisory appointments, including Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship; a member of the Board of Directors of AcademyHealth and Board Chair of its Coalition for Health Services Research; a member of the advisory board of The Future of Children, a journal about children's policy managed jointly by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution; a member of the Advisory Committee for the Center for Studying Health Systems Change; and a member of Delta Omega, the national honorary public health society.
Mr. Kahn has taught health policy at The John Hopkins University, George Washington University, and Tulane University, and has written about health care financing. A commentary that he wrote ("Intolerable Risk, Irreparable Harm: The Legacy of Physician-Owned Specialty Hospitals"), along with a paper that he co-authored ("Snapshot Of Hospital Quality Reporting And Pay-For-Performance Under Medicare") appear in the January/February, 2006 edition of Health Affairs. "Building A Consensus For Expanding Health Care Coverage", co-authored with Ron Pollack of Families USA, appears in the January/February, 2001 edition of Health Affairs. Another paper that he co-authored ("Budget Bills as Precedents For Medicare Policy: The Politics of the BBA") appears in the January/February, 1999 edition of Health Affairs, while "Why We Should Keep the Employment-Based Health Insurance System" is in the November/December, 1999 edition of Health Affairs.
Mr. Kahn holds a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, which in 2001 bestowed upon him its prestigious "Champion of Public Health" award. He also received a Bachelor of Arts degree from The John Hopkins University.
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