Moore School of Business - Moore School - Sister Carol Keehan Named Most Powerful Person in U.S. Healthcare

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Sister Carol Keehan (MS ’80, Distinguished Alumna '00), president and CEO of the St. Louis-based Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), tops Modern Healthcare's sixth annual listing of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare." This is the first time a woman has led the list.

The listing appeared in the magazine’s Aug. 27, 2007, issue. Modern Healthcare is the country’s only healthcare business news weekly.

Keehan landed the top spot, outpolling GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and current California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as Microsoft Corp. Board Chairman Bill Gates and Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barrack Obama, who were ranked Number 2, 3, 7, 8, and 10, respectively.

Keehan says her mission is to ensure that the United States develops a "fair and just health care policy" for all its citizens, including the 47 million-plus Americans today who have no health insurance.

"In her capacity as a devoted consensus builder working with an eclectic group of organizations to resolve the seemingly intractable problem, Keehan, who came in at No. 26 a year ago, has somehow managed to connect with all the disparate interest groups without alienating any of them,” said the magazine.

Keehan told the magazine that, “Quite frankly, I think we won’t have healthcare reform worthy of this country until the American people demand it…The most important thing on my agenda is access to care for everyone. We are joining with coalitions that talk about the dignity of everyone and the right of everyone for quality healthcare, and there are a lot of pieces that work into that.

"On balance," she continued, "we are not looking for the perfect reform system, we’re looking for something very good. So we’re saying as opposed to advocating your plan vs. my plan, we have been working to develop principles so we can say any healthcare reform plan should be measured by these principles."

Keehan was praised by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "The problems of our healthcare system demand a dynamic response, and Sister Carol Keehan is certainly a dynamic leader," he was quoted as telling the magazine. "Her work with the Catholic Health Association is simply exemplary in terms of making healthcare more responsive to communities and to individuals, and trying to look at the big picture for solutions that do the most good."

A registered nurse by training and a former hospital administrator and executive, Keehan came to the Moore School in 1978 to enroll in the Master of Science in Business Administration program, majoring in health care financial administration. She was profiled in the Summer 2007 issue of Moore Business, the school's alumni magazine.

Keehan has been a member of the Daughters of Charity for more than 40 years. She was named president and chief executive officer of CHA in October 2005.

The Modern Healthcare ranking came from the magazine’s readers, who nominated candidates via the publication’s Web site, modernhealthcare.com. Readers submitted more than 12,600 nominations, up nearly 40 percent from last year, the magazine said. The 100 people who received the most votes made the final list, with the final ranking determined by the number of votes received.

Jan Collins
September 2007