Payer lobby AHIP announced Wednesday that its president and chief executive Matt Eyles will depart his post on Oct. 2, after nearly five years leading the organization.
AHIP said it would conduct a nationwide search for his replacement.
Eyles oversaw “major advocacy” accomplishments for AHIP during his tenure, including an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies through 2025, according to the lobby. He also led the organization through the coronavirus pandemic, a lucrative period for private insurers who reaped record-levels of profit during the pandemic as patients delayed medical care to avoid contracting the virus.
Eyles was appointed to CEO of AHIP in 2018 after serving in various roles at the organization since 2017, including a stint as its chief operating officer, according to Eyles’ LinkedIn.
He replaced Marilyn Tavenner, an Obama appointee who served as administrator at the CMS.
Although Eyles has held numerous executive roles at healthcare companies, he began his career serving the government as an analyst for the Congressional Budget Office in the 1990s.
Since leaving that role, Eyles had senior executive roles at healthcare consulting firm Avalere Health, pharmaceutical company Wyeth and Coventry Health, which was acquired by Aetna in 2013 for $8.7 billion, according to Eyeles’ LinkedIn.
Major health insurers are reckoning with Medicaid redeterminations this year, after states were allowed to begin culling their rolls in April as federal COVID-19 guidelines requiring continuous enrollment expired. Molina announced in an April earnings call that it expected to lose half of the Medicaid enrollees it gained during the pandemic, but projected that the loss would not have a “significant margin impact” this year. Centene also announced last month that an impact from redeterminations might not be felt until next year.