The board of the Cover Oregon Health Insurance Exchange has picked Aaron Patnode to be its new executive director. Patnode has been working for Kaiser Permanente.
Oregon backed the state-based exchange generously, but exchange managers had a hard time getting an enrollment system to work properly. They had to process applications from the 300,000 people who enrolled in public or private coverage through the exchange manually. The previous executive director, Rocky King, announced that he was taking medical leave in December, and he later resigned.
Meanwhile, in Nevada, the board of the state-based Silver State Health Insurance Exchange — the body that oversees the Nevada Health Link exchange — may interview three candidates for its own executive director post at a board meeting Wednesday. The candidates are Bruce Gilbert, David Haws and James Hooban.