Chip Kahn

Charles N. (“Chip”) Kahn III is president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, the national public policy organization for investor-owned hospitals, a position that he has held since June 2001. He is recognized as one of the country’s most insightful and articulate experts on health policy, Medicare payment, healthcare financing, and health coverage.

Mr. Kahn’s extensive health policy experience makes him one of the Capitol’s most effective and accomplished trade association executives. He is one of only 12 health care leaders who have appeared on Modern Healthcare magazine’s annual “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” list since its inception. In August of 2010, The Hill newspaper selected him as one of the Capitol’s top lobbyists for the 10th consecutive year. Also, under his leadership, the former Health Insurance Association of America was named by Fortune magazine for three consecutive years as the nation’s most influential insurance trade association.

Currently, Kahn is at the forefront of national initiatives to shape policy for advancing healthcare quality and information technology. He is a member of the Governing Board of the National Quality Forum and also serves as a principal in the Hospital Quality Alliance. Previously, he served as a commissioner of the American Health Information Community, a former federal policy advisory panel responsible for advising then-HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt about the diffusion of health information technology.

Mr. Kahn is a member of the Board of Directors of PharmMD, a medication therapy management company. He also serves as chair of the David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship, which funds a 12-month postgraduate experience in Washington, D.C. as well as scholarships for health policy graduate students. Mr. Kahn is a member of the Israel Healthcare Foundation board and co-chaired a conference in September 2009 in Caesarea, Israel regarding Israeli healthcare.

In 1993 and 1994, as HIAA’s executive vice president, Kahn ran the precedent-setting “Harry and Louise” campaign .The campaign was characterized by Advertising Age magazine as “among the best conceived and executed public affairs advertising programs in history.”

During the years between 1995 and 1998, he played a crucial role in formulating significant health legislation while serving as staff director for the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. During this period, his efforts helped bring about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Medicare provisions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. From 1986 to 1993, Kahn served as minority health counsel for the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, where he contributed to shaping virtually every major piece of national health entitlement and health-related tax legislation. Earlier in his Capitol Hill career, he served as senior health policy advisor to former Senator David Durenberger (R-MN) and legislative assistant for health to then-Senator Dan Quayle (R-IN).

Kahn cut his political teeth in the 1970s. In 1974 and 1976, he managed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s first two campaigns for the House of Representatives. Additionally, during this period, he spent 1975 working for Mayor Moon Landrieu of New Orleans. From June 1980 to 1983, Kahn directed the Office of Financial Management Education at the Association of University Programs in Health Administration after completing an administrative residency with the Teaching Hospital Department of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Mr. Kahn taught health policy at Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, and Tulane University where he writes about healthcare financing. A commentary that he wrote appeared in January, 2009 as a web exclusive for Health Affairs. Kahn has co-authored numerous publications for Health Affairsin the January/February 1999, 2001, and 2006, and November/December 1999 edition of Health Affairs.

Mr. Kahn received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and holds a Masters of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

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