Kaiser Permanente today announced that Julie Miller-Phipps has been named president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia. 

Miller-Phipps has been with Kaiser Permanente for more than 30 years and has a track record of demonstrated success throughout her career. She has served most recently as the senior vice president and executive director of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan in Orange County, Calif., leading a service area that has 23 medical offices and serves more than 480,000 members.

During her tenure in Orange County, Miller-Phipps worked in close collaboration with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group to lead a high-performing team of 750 physicians and 6,000 employees who successfully opened two new hospitals, consistently delivered high-quality care and service, and experienced a significant growth in membership. 

Previously, Miller-Phipps served in several other leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente, including director of Hospital Operations, Continuing Care leader and assistant hospital administrator. 

In addition to appointing Miller-Phipps to her new role, Kaiser Permanente announced that it will align the Southern California region with the Georgia region, using a proven Kaiser Permanente practice in which a larger region helps enhance and accelerate a smaller region's development and performance.

"Kaiser Permanente is recognized as a model for the future of health care in this country, and we are committed to creating the best health experiences and outcomes for each of the 9.5 million members we serve," said Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente.  "With Julie's leadership and the dedication of our employees and physicians — in Georgia and throughout the organization — we will continue to enhance the high-quality, 21st century health care experience we provide to the people of Georgia."

Miller-Phipps steps into this role as Kaiser Permanente is reinforcing its commitment to deliver care and coverage to more people, customers and communities in Georgia. She succeeds Kerry W. Kohnen, who has served as president of the Georgia region since 2011 and is retiring after a nearly 40-year career with Kaiser Permanente. 

"Kaiser Permanente is widely recognized as a leader in quality and prevention," Miller-Phipps said. "Through our investments in our people, technology and innovation, we will continue to build on the success we have had in Georgia and continue to be a model for delivering high-quality and affordable health care."  

Kaiser Permanente Georgia was recently recognized as one of the top 20 commercial health plans in the country according to this year's National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) rankings of more than 500 health plans. It has also been the highest rated health plan in the state for 10 consecutive years by NCQA.  

Additionally, all seven Kaiser Permanente Medicare health plans, including Georgia, are ranked in the top 10 out of more than 408 Medicare plans rated by NCQA.