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Madison, Wis., Health System Chief Steps Down

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

By Doug Erickson, The Wisconsin State Journal

Sep. 28--Dr. Allen Kemp, chief executive and board chairman of Dean Health System in Madison, the largest privately owned health-care company in southern Wisconsin, said Tuesday he will step down from his leadership roles as soon as the board names a successor or successors.

Kemp, 56, joined Dean Clinic in 1985 as an anesthesiologist and worked his way up in clinic administration, taking on his current dual roles in 1995.

He said it is likely that the responsibilities will be split into two positions. It may take a year or so to find his replacements, he said. He intends to stay on as board chairman emeritus another two years after that.

"I expect to be out of Dean in three years," he said. "The company is in very good shape, and I intend to leave it in very good shape."

He called it "a transition that I, on my own, proposed."

Kemp is the founding CEO of Dean Health System, an umbrella company created in 1995 to bring together numerous businesses that shared the Dean name, including clinics and Dean Health Plan, an insurance business.

Dean Health System employs 479 doctors at 56 clinics and 4,143 other professional and support staff.

Kemp said he does not know what he'll do next. "I've served in this position for 11 years now, and 11 years in this industry and in this business is a very long time."

Dr. Lawrence Elfman, a Dean Health System pediatrician, said Kemp was a strong leader during a difficult time of rising technology costs and declining reimbursement rates for physician services. Kemp's successor will not have it easy, either.

"Finding a way to stay afloat while continuing a good relationship with other health-care providers in Madison will continue to be a challenge," Elfman said.

During Kemp's tenure, Dean entered into a much stronger partnership with St. Mary's Hospital in Madison. The two companies jointly manage dozens of small clinics outside of Dane County, and a majority of Dean hospital admissions are at St. Mary's.

Kemp was a strong advocate for community outreach, supporting new programs that provided services to uninsured patients and at-risk pregnant women, said Jeanan Yasiri, vice president for service innovation at Dean Health System.

"And that's powerful because that's just not typically done in a for-profit, physician-owned organization," she said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Wisconsin State Journal

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Source: The Wisconsin State Journal

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