Charles N Kahn III

Charles N. Kahn III

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

Mr. Kahn’s extensive health policy expertise, outstanding leadership abilities, lengthy Capitol Hill experience, and proven campaign and communications skills make him one of Washington, DC’s most effective and accomplished trade association executives. He is one of only six health care leaders who have appeared on Modern Healthcare magazine’s annual “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” list (formerly the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” list) since its inception. Becker’s Hospital Review, in December, 2014, included Mr. Kahn on its “50 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” list for 2015, and in January, 2014, included him on its “50 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” list, and on similar lists in 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.

In October 2014, The Hill newspaper selected Mr. Kahn as one of the capital’s top lobbyists for the 14th consecutive year. Fortune magazine, for three consecutive years, named the former Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), under Mr. Kahn’s leadership, as the nation’s most influential insurance trade association.

Currently, Mr. Kahn is at the forefront of national initiatives to shape policy for advancing health care quality and information technology. He represents the FAH as a member of the Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) Coordinating Committee of the National Quality Forum (NQF), a multi-stakeholder private-public partnership for developing and implementing a national strategy for health care quality measurement. He also is a former member of the NQF’s Governing Board.

In May of 2015, Mr. Kahn was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing public understanding about how social insurance contributes to economic security. Mr. Kahn also serves as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Health Care Services.

Previously, Mr. Kahn was a principal of the former Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a private-public partnership that he helped to initiate, and a Commissioner of the former American Health Information Community, a federal policy panel responsible for advising then-HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt about the diffusion of health information technology.

Before coming to the FAH, Mr. Kahn was one of the nation’s top public policy leaders for the health insurance industry. During his tenure as President of the HIAA, he focused national attention upon the plight of the uninsured and was recognized as one of two “major movers” of an effort sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that brought together a diverse, “strange bedfellows” coalition of often-opposing major national advocacy organizations to seek solutions for extending health coverage.

In 1993 and 1994, as HIAA Executive Vice President, Mr. Kahn ran the precedent-setting “Harry and Louise” campaign, which ultimately assumed a major role during consideration of President Clinton’s proposed health reform plan. The “Harry and Louise” campaign was characterized by Advertising Age magazine as “among the best conceived and executed public affairs advertising programs in history.” In 2000, Mr. Kahn brought back “Harry and Louise” as advocates for the uninsured, a move applauded even by traditional critics of the health insurance industry.

Mr. Kahn has a long and distinguished career as a professional staff person on Capitol Hill, specializing in health policy issues. During 1995-1998, 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 time, his efforts helped bring about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Medicare provisions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA). From 1986-1993, Mr. 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).

Mr. 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, and in 1975, he worked for Mayor Moon Landrieu of New Orleans. From June 1980 to June 1983, Mr. Kahn directed the Office of Financial Management Education at the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) after completing an administrative residency with the Teaching Hospital Department of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Mr. Kahn is a member of the Board of Directors of PharmMD, a medication therapy management company. He is the past 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.

In February, 2014, in Dead Sea, Israel, Mr. Kahn co-chaired “Measuring Quality in Hospitals – Are the Goals Conflicting?”, an International Workshop sponsored by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research. Earlier, in September, 2009, in Caesarea, Israel, Mr. Kahn co-chaired another International Workshop sponsored by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research entitled “Pay for Performance – Can it Improve the Quality and Value of Israeli Health Care?”. He also serves as a member of the Israel Health Care Foundation board.

Mr. Kahn taught health policy at The Johns Hopkins University, The George Washington University, and Tulane University and writes about health care financing. A commentary that he wrote – “Payment Reform Alone Will Not Transform Health Care Delivery” – appeared in January 2009 as a Web Exclusive for Health Affairs, the nation’s most prestigious health policy journal. Another commentary –“Intolerable Risk, Irreparable Harm: The Legacy Of Physician-Owned Specialty Hospitals” – and a paper for which he was the lead author – “Snapshot Of Hospital Quality Reporting And Pay-For-Performance Under Medicare” – appears in the January/February, 2006 edition of Health Affairs.

“Building A Consensus For Expanding Health Care Coverage,” co-authored with Ron Pollack of Families USA, appears in the January/February 2001 edition of Health Affairs. Another paper that he co-authored – “Budget Bills As Precedents For Medicare Policy: The Politics of the BBA” – appears in the January/February 1999 edition of Health Affairs; and “Why We Should Keep the Employment-Based Health Insurance System” is in the November/December, 1999 edition of Health Affairs.

Mr. Kahn is an avid amateur photographer, and his photography has been displayed at juried exhibitions.

Mr. Kahn holds a Masters of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, which in 2001 bestowed upon him its prestigious “Champion of Public Health” award and its Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1988. He also serves on Tulane University’s President’s Council.

Mr. Kahn received a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Johns Hopkins University. He was inducted into the Georgetown University Chapter of Upsilon Phi Delta, a national academic honor society for students in healthcare administration, and is a member of Delta Omega, the honorary society for graduate studies in public health.