His resignation, which was announced by the health insurer April 5, was likely triggered by the systematic and technological difficulties BCBS of North Carolina has been facing since January, though the insurer didn’t provide further comment on Mr. Hughes’ reasoning, according to the report. In February, the problems caused North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to launch an investigation, and in March, he said he plans on financially penalizing BCBS of North Carolina.
Mr. Hughes, who became COO four years ago, will leave his position immediately and will be replaced by Gerald Petkau, BCBSNC’s current CFO.
From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Hughes received a pay increase of 48.7 percent, up from $1.19 million to $1.77 million.
During a March meeting, Mr. Hughes voiced concerns about the system failure. “What we’ve experience this year cannot happen again — absolutely cannot happen again,” he told employees, according to the report. “What’s keeping me up at night right now is we’re already looking ahead to the next open enrollment. And really it’s only about eight months away.”
BCBSNC is currently working to improve its billing and enrollment software in time for open enrollment in November.
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