HMO ASSOCIATION: Director To Join CMRI Subsidiary

      The "longtime executive director" of the California Association of Health Plans, Myra Snyder, has resigned from her position to become executive director of a not-for-profit subsidiary of San Francisco's California Medical Review Inc. CMRI is responsible for auditing Medicare billing in the state. Snyder's departure comes in the midst of "one of the most 'brutal' legislative climates in years for the HMO industry," according to observers. The association serves 38 HMOs with a combined enrollment of 15 million Californians. Maureen O'Haren, the association's executive vice president for legislative affairs, will serve as interim director, the San Francisco Business Journal reports.

A New Role
     
      Beginning in mid-May, Snyder will head up the Center for Healthcare Quality Improvement in San Francisco. The new CMRI subsidiary will distribute some of the parent organization's "store of clinical data" to HMOs, medical groups and consumers. Snyder said she is most interested in providing consumers with better access to data (Rauber, 5/4 issue).