Lumetra Insights
June 2009
John H. Austin, M.D., Executive Chairman and Chief Medical Officer of Arcadian Management Services and a member of Lumetra’s Board of Directors, was killed in an airplane accident on Friday, May 29th. He was 65. According to Linda Sawyer, PhD, RN, Lumetra’s CEO, “Dr. Austin, though having only recently joined our Board of Directors, was deeply committed to our success. He will be greatly missed.”
Dr. Austin’s legacy includes leading Arcadian Management Services, a provider of high-quality, cost-effective administrative infrastructure and management services, which he founded in 1996. In 2005, he grew the company to offer Arcadian Health Plan, a contracted Medicare Advantage health plan. Through state or locally branded health plans, the plan offers Medicare health plan options to over 46,000 Medicare beneficiaries who reside in secondary metropolitan and non-urban communities.
Prior to founding Arcadian, Dr. Austin was President and CEO of UniMed, a physician management company based in Southern California. From 1987 until 1992, he was Executive Vice President for Health Plan of America, a California HMO. From 1982 until 1987, he was with HealthAmerica, a Nashville based HMO with over one million members, ultimately, as Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Austin was the Chairman of the Board of Coventry Health Care until January 1, 2005, and most currently was a Coventry Board member.
Dr. Austin received his undergraduate degree and medical degree from the University of California in San Francisco and his Masters in Public Health from Harvard University. He was Board Certified in Internal Medicine.
Lumetra’s Board of Directors, management and staff mourn the loss of Dr. Austin and extend their sincerest condolences to his family.