VCU news

By Gina Waldron
Virginia Premier Health Plan, Inc.

Virginia Premier Health Plan Inc. has named Kurt C. Small as its chief operating officer. Small comes to Virginia Premier from Pittsburgh, where he was an executive with Highmark Inc. The position of COO was previously held by Linda Hines, who was named CEO of Virginia Premier in late 2016.

Small brings a wealth of operational experience to Virginia Premier, having spent more than three years as senior vice president of plan operations at Highmark. Like Virginia Premier, Highmark is a nonprofit health insurer. Concurrent with the company's merger with Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Small was responsible for all aspects of Highmark's service delivery and its individual, commercial and senior market business segments. Prior to working with Highmark, Small spent more than 15 years with Aetna — a Fortune 100 managed health care company — attaining the position of vice president of claims and provider services.

“We're very happy to have Kurt with us here in Richmond,” Hines said. “There has been a surge in activity at Virginia Premier recently. We’re adding more lines of business with our Virginia Premier Elite and long-term support plans. Kurt's experience with different types of health plans, consumer sectors and large provider networks will be invaluable for a growing company like ours.”

In 2016, Virginia Premier inaugurated a dual-eligible special needs program and will soon be enrolling members for its long-term services and supports plan.

“Virginia Premier is a relatively young player in the health care industry,” Small said. “In two decades of serving Virginia, it's built a solid reputation, but there's still plenty of room for it to expand and diversify. Which is just to say there are more opportunities out there for us to serve our members, especially with the health care industry as a whole in such a state of transition.”

Small holds a Master of Business Administration from Yale University, and a Bachelor of Arts from The College of William and Mary. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and serves as a trustee of the Winchester Thurston School.

He is working out of Virginia Premier’s corporate office in Richmond.