Gov. Christine Gregoire announces the appointment of Doug Porter, right, to the Health Care Authority position in 2010, replacing Steve Hill, left, who moved to the Department of Retirement Systems.

Now for the rest of the story. State Health Care Authority Director Doug Porter, whose resignation was disclosed last week with the appointment of a new director, MaryAnne Lindeblad, is moving to a private-sector consulting firm called Health Management Associates, and will open an office in Olympia. Last week the word was that the deal was in the final stages, and the name of the firm was not announced. Here’s the company’s news release:

Washington State Health Care Authority Director Porter to join Health Management Associates as Principal 

OLYMPIA – Doug Porter, Director of Washington State’s Health Care Authority, has been hired as a Principal with Health Management Associates (HMA), a national health care policy and consulting firm, HMA representatives announced today.

Porter has been at the head of Washington’s Medicaid program for the past ten years. Under his leadership, the program made nationally recognized advances in children’s health insurance, managed care, program integrity, development of a new Medicaid Management Information System, related payment issues and national health care reform.

“Under Doug’s leadership, Washington State has consistently been a model program, most recently looking for innovative approaches and implementing changes at the forefront of the Medicaid expansion and the Health Benefits Exchange – two key features in the march toward health care reform,” said Marilynn Evert, HMA’s chief executive officer.

Porter announced on August 6 that he was resigning from his current post, effective August 17, and would soon announce his future plans. After a bit of rest and relaxation with family, he will officially join HMA on Monday, October 1.

As a Principal with HMA, Porter will be involved in health policy research and consulting for HMA clients around the country. He also will open HMA’s sixteenth office in Olympia, where he will be based.

Porter, who earlier directed Medicaid programs in Maine and California, has led the Washington State program since December of 2001, when it was part of the Department of Social and Health Services.

In 2010, Washington Governor Chris Gregoire announced a plan to merge Medicaid and the existing Health Care Authority, putting Porter also in charge of the state’s other large health care purchasing program, the Public Employees Benefits.  That move, completed in 2011, helped streamline and standardize state health care programs as well as bend the health cost curve, helping restrain annual medical cost inflation to less than four percent by eliminating waste and inefficiencies.

Health Management Associates was founded in 1985 with the goal of working to improve and streamline publicly-funded health care programs for vulnerable populations and the uninsured. Today, HMA is an independent research and consulting firm with a national clientele – over 100 consultants strong, and focused on health care reform, financing, delivery, and policy.

Porter, a native of Akron, Ohio, who grew up in the Pittsburgh area, began his health care career in hospital administration in Massachusetts and Arkansas. He also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a consultant before accepting the Washington State appointment.

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