McLaren Health Care has appointed Jessica Cromer as President and CEO of the McLaren Integrated HMO Group, the subsidiary organization overseeing McLaren health insurance providers that collectively delivers health care benefits to more than 600,000 in Michigan and Indiana.
Cromer most recently served as President and CEO of MDwise, McLaren’s Indiana-based provider of health care benefits. Effective Dec. 1, she assumed the role made vacant upon the retirement of Kathy Kendall, who conceived and led McLaren HMO operations for more than 25 years.
“The success of our HMOs and their ability to connect thousands with the care they need is a direct result of steadfast leadership and an incredible understanding of the industry,” said David Mazurkiewicz, McLaren Health Care Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “We are very fortunate to have already had Jessica as a leader within our enterprise, one who has demonstrated the understanding, expertise, and passion needed to be successful in today’s insurance provider environment.”
Following years of growth after the establishment of McLaren Health Plan in 1998, the McLaren Integrated HMO Group was incorporated to oversee the operations and strategic development of McLaren health insurance providers, which expanded to include MDwise in 2017.
Cromer joined MDwise in February 2020, and in her time, she has been responsible for the coverage of 385,000 Indiana Medicare and Medicaid lives. In her time, she was able to grow the health plan while also increasing employee satisfaction, being named by The Indianapolis Star as a Top Place to Work. She led successful rebids to secure contracts from Hoosier Healthwise (Indiana Medicaid) and the Healthy Indiana Plan.
“Having access to health care is fundamental, and I see health insurance as a critical component for access,” Cromer said. “I am grateful for this opportunity to work with the leaders of these organizations and excited to coordinate with our service teams to gain consistency in our processes, efficiency in our work, and further serve the needs of our members.”
Cromer’s career has spanned more than 25 years, many of them in positions of leadership through which she has created access to care for health plan members. She began her career with the Amerigroup Corporation, where she quickly rose to obtain leadership positions of increasing responsibility — earning a directorship before promotions to Associate Vice President, Regional Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer at various Amerigroup entities. Immediately prior to joining MDwise, she led a turnaround of Pennsylvania Medicaid as Executive Director and Vice President.
She earned a Mathematics degree from Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Penn., and an Applied Mathematics advanced degree from West Virginia University.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $7.3 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 13 hospitals in Michigan, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 640-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 732,838 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 113,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Learn more at mclaren.org.