Cain Hayes is new Gateway Health CEO

CAIN HAYES

For Cain Hayes, it appears the third time in Pittsburgh really is the charm.
He started his insurance career in Pittsburgh with financial investment management and insurance company Principal right after college in 1991, met and married his wife here, then relocated in 1997, returned in 2001, only to leave again in 2006.
Now he’s back again—but this time, he returns as the new CEO of Gateway Health. He officially takes over next week. In an exclusive interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier, Hayes said he’s very excited to be a part of a “fantastic organization” and he plans to be a hands-on leader and visible in the community.
“I’d say my style is roll-up-your-sleeves and get involved,” he said.
“First, I will be working closely with staff to determine what our key strengths and opportunities are and working to capitalize on them. Certainly we want what I call purposeful growth, but more important than that is ensuring that we deliver for the members we have—solutions and tools to help our members and the community at-large to stay healthy and improve their lives.”
Hayes said he plans on doing a lot of community engagement and will be doing “listening tours” to hear from external stakeholders.
“I’m a big believer in spending time in the community,” he said. “One of the advantages we have as an organization is we’re based in Pittsburgh. Our mission for 25 years has been to improve the lives of our members and their communities. We should invest in, and be visible in the community, and that’s something you will see from me.”
While doing all that, Hayes said he will still have to “connect the wires every day” running the company.
“My role as CEO is to set up the vision and strategy and put in place the processes and people to deliver on that,” he said. “A big part of that is shaping the culture of the organization. As management guru Peter Drucker said years ago, ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ There are certain things only a CEO can do.”
On a related note, Hayes said there is something more important that healthcare—health.
“I have a passion around addressing social determinants of health,” he said.
“In this country we focus more than healthcare than health. That’s maybe 20 percent of the issue. The other 80 percent is things like zip code, access to healthy food, genetics. We need to address those determinants that lead to the gaps we see, the higher incidence of chronic conditions in ethnic and racial minorities.”
Hayes joins Gateway Health from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota where he served as president and COO of the Health Business. Prior to joining Blue Cross, he was president of National Accounts, president of the Mid-Atlantic region and president of the Government-sector and Labor division for Aetna.
Now in its 26th year, Gateway Health is a nationally-ranked managed care organization that focuses on providing the best possible health care to a growing number of Medicaid and Medicare members. The Pittsburgh-based provider offers Medicaid and/or Medicare services across seven states.
 
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