Canopy Health boosts licenses; appoints chief medical officer

Canopy Health, a health insurer affiliated to UCSF Health and John Muir Health, has earned its Knox-Keene license to function in seven Bay Area counties. In addition, it appointed Meg Durbin, medical doctor, as chief medical officer and Patrick Caster as chief financial officer.

Durbin has nearly 20 years of experience working with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, a Sutter Health affiliate, where she served as vice president for care co-ordination and regional medical director of managed care.

Caster brings over 25 years of healthcare finance and operations experience to Canopy Health. More recently, he was chief operating and financial officer for PIH Health, a regional healthcare network in Southern California.

“Dr. Durbin and Patrick Caster bring outstanding experience and expertise to Canopy Health as we build our network across the Bay Area. They’ve made a seamless transition and will help to speed our development,” said Joel Criste, chief executive officer of Canopy Health.

The received restricted license from the California Department of Managed Healthcare means that the health insurer can provide services in Marin, Southern Sanoma, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, and parts of San Mateo and Solano counties.

Canopy Health will partner directly with health plans on behalf of all providers who are part of the network, to develop an insurance product which offers affordable “quality-care.”

Canopy Health currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 4,000 physicians and 12 hospitals.

“Our model is unique, as we are partnering with health plans to offer a competitively priced insurance product, rather than selling our own plan,” Criste said.

“By accepting risk, we are accountable for the overall health of the patients we serve. It puts the focus where it should be, keeping patients as healthy as possible and providing the care they need in the most appropriate setting, whether that is the primary care physician’s office, an outpatient center or acute care hospital.”