ROBERT STEVEN GALVIN, MD: a conversation with the editor on health care systems in a post-managed care world

Robert S. Galvin, MD, and William C. Roberts, MD

Since 1996, Dr. Robert Galvin has been the top health care executive at General Electric (GE), and in that position he is responsible for the design, administration, and financial performance of GE's $2.5 billion health benefit expenditures internationally. He also oversees GE's medical services-involving 230 clinics, 600 physicians and nurses, and 1.5 million patient visits-and its wellness, disease management, and occupational medicine programs. In his present position, he has developed GE's health strategies using its enormous purchasing power in the health care marketplace.

Dr. Galvin is one of the cofounders of the Leapfrog Group, which now represents 35 million insured people in the USA. It is the premier private-sector group focusing on medical safety and quality. He is also founder of Bridges to Excellence, a coalition of employers developing pay-for-performance approaches. He pioneered the use of Six Sigma as an operating principle for quality and cost initiatives in medical care. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Redesigning Health Insurance Benefits, Payment, and Performance Improvement Programs and is on the advisory board of the Council on Health Care Economics and Policy. He is currently associate professor adjunct of medicine at Yale. Before joining GE in 1990, Dr. Galvin practiced general internal medicine in Massachusetts. He recently visited Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) as an adviser to our clinical transformation endeavors.