Healthcare >> Analyst Interviews >> June 7, 2004
DR. ABBIE LEIBOWITZ is a Founder, Chief Medical Officer and Executive
Vice President of Health Advocate, Inc. He is a nationally recognized
leader in the healthcare industry and an authority on managed care,
clinical management, quality assurance and medical data and information
systems. Before co-founding Health Advocate, Dr. Leibowitz was Executive
Vice President for Digital Health Strategy and Business Development for
Medscape, Inc., and a member of the company's Board of Directors. While
at Medscape he developed the company's healthcare data and information
services group, aimed at demonstrating the value of electronic medical
records systems in clinical practice. Under his leadership, Medscape
successfully focused its business development efforts on payors,
pharmaceutical companies, large national employers, and regulatory and
governmental agencies. For the four years prior to October 2000, Dr
Leibowitz served as Chief Medical Officer for Aetna U.S. Healthcare
where he was responsible for directing and developing the company's
patient management and clinical activities and relationships with
hundreds of thousands of physicians, hospitals and other healthcare
providers. He was also responsible for overseeing US Quality Algorithms
(USQA), the company's information management subsidiary, which houses
the nation's largest health data warehouse, and was the medical liaison
to Intelihealth, the company's award winning health information Website.
As a member of the company's executive leadership team, Dr. Leibowitz
played an instrumental role in ensuring that clinical and operational
systems were fully integrated. Dr. Leibowitz joined U.S. Healthcare in
1987 and served in a number of senior level positions with the company.
He spent three years as corporate medical director prior to the
company's merger with Aetna. Before joining U.S. Healthcare, Dr.
Leibowitz spent 12 years in private pediatric practice in suburban
Philadelphia. He built and managed a seven physician pediatric group
serving a diverse urban/suburban population of over 25,000 patients. The
practice served as a teaching site for medical students and pediatric
residents. Dr. Leibowitz received his Medical degree from Temple
University Medical School and his BA from the same institution. He
completed his postgraduate training at Children's Hospital of
Pittsburgh, is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, a
fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the
Philadelphia Pediatric Society. He is an affiliate of the Department of
Pediatrics of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is a member of
numerous professional and industry organizations and committees
including the Partnership for Quality Education, the American Academy of
Pediatrics' Section on Computers and Technology and the Section on
Ambulatory Care and Practice Management. Profile
Advocate?
Dr. Leibowitz: In the summer of 2000, when I knew I was leaving Aetna, I
called Mike Cardillo, who had been the
