Ronald Williams

President

Blue Cross of California

As president of the Blue Cross of California subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc., Ronald Williams presides over an organization that has seen tremendous change over the past decade.

He first joined Blue Cross of California in 1987, when it was a relatively low-profile non-profit organization, and helped transform it into a for-profit enterprise known for its cost-cutting practices.

Those practices have helped parent company WellPoint’s earnings rise steadily over the years, while eliciting complaints from consumer groups and doctors.

In a survey released last month by an influential health insurance-purchasing consortium, Blue Cross of California was rated by doctor groups statewide as one of the worst three HMOs in California. And in May, Sutter Health, a major Sacramento hospital system, quit the Blue Cross network, citing low reimbursement rates.

That same month, a state judge granted a request by four doctors’ groups for an unusual “class arbitration” in their legal case against Blue Cross. They are claiming that the company breached contracts by allegedly forcing various fee reductions between 1993 and 1995.

Williams has disputed the claim that the doctors bringing suit constitute a large class, calling them “a small group of 2,000 to 3,000 doctors.”

Blue Cross officials also say that doctor and hospital complaints aren’t particularly unusual for such a large organization and that they reflect the feelings of doctors and administrators, not necessarily those of patients.

Blue Cross is working on expanding its network and improving customer satisfaction. “Our prime focus is to provide our members with greater access to quality health care,” Williams said in a statement.

In 1996, he oversaw the launch of a new Web site, which offers information about products and services. By the end of this year, current customers will have the ability to check on the status of their claims online, using a “PIN” number.

Williams earned a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s in psychology from Roosevelt University. An Illinois native, he worked as an administrative assistant in the early 1970s in the Office of the Governor for that state, and later held numerous positions with Control Data Corp., the Minneapolis-based computer and financial-services company.