Hasan

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Malik M. Hasan

Chairman and CEO

Foundation Health Systems Inc.

As head of the fourth-largest publicly traded managed care organization in the country, Dr. Malik M. Hasan is one of the industry’s giants. His company, created by the 1996 marriage of Hasan’s Health Systems International and Foundation Health Corp., caters to large corporate customers.

Although Foundation Health is based in Woodland Hills, Hasan spends most of his time at the company’s offices in Pueblo, Colo., where he launched his managed care career.

A board-certified practicing neurologist, Hasan founded QualMed Inc. in Pueblo in 1985. The company took off in 1994, when it merged with Health Net to form Health Systems International. The subsequent merger with Foundation created a giant with 5 million members in more than a dozen states.

There have been some bumps along the way. First-quarter profits fell 45 percent this year, to $26.2 million, as medical costs outpaced revenues. And just last week, a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation criticized Foundation Health Systems (and several other HMOs) for misleading information in ads seeking to attract Medicare patients.

Company officials dismissed the criticism, saying the ads are in keeping with federal guidelines. But in a short interview last week, Hasan expressed annoyance about the escalating calls for government oversight of HMOs. He believes that ultimately, the marketplace must decide on the level of care.

“If our industry is to survive,” he said, “health plans need to listen to and respond to the needs of the market.”

How ever the industry fares, Hasan appears to be doing well: He took home $18.4 million in compensation last year, largely in stock options, which was good enough for him to rank third on the Business Journal’s survey of highest-paid L.A. public company executives.

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