The Iowa Department of Human Services last August announced the winning bidders for Gov. Terry Branstad’s Medicaid modernization initiative. Here’s a look at the Iowa market leaders for the three companies that were selected. The new IA Health Link program, which is expected to go into effect March 1, will serve the majority of Iowa’s Medicaid population, or about 600,000 Iowa residents, through three managed care plans: Amerigroup Iowa Inc., AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa Inc. and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa.

Cheryl Harding

Iowa market president, AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa  

Cheryl Harding was named Iowa market president of Medicaid managed health care plan AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa in October 2015. Based in Philadelphia, AmeriHealth Caritas is part of the Independence Health Group in partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. 

Harding most recently was chief operating officer of Delta Dental of Iowa, a position she held for eight years. In that position, she managed the company’s government programs, strategic plan development and execution, finance, operations, technology and compliance areas, and was secretary-treasurer of its foundation. 

Before joining Delta Dental in 2007, Harding was vice president and controller of Des Moines-based American Enterprise Group Inc., a life and health insurance holding company. 

Harding is a board member and secretary-treasurer of Mid-Iowa Health Foundation, as well as a board member of the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ohio State University. 

Cynthia MacDonald
Health plan president, Amerigroup Iowa Inc.  

Cynthia MacDonald is health plan president of Amerigroup Iowa, a subsidiary of Anthem Inc. and a leading health care insurer covering individuals enrolled in publicly funded care programs in the state. In this role, MacDonald is responsible for the state contract including all Medicaid operations and service to Iowa members as well as for establishing and maintaining provider networks in the state.

Previously, MacDonald worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, where she was vice president in the government programs division. She previously was deputy center director for the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, providing executive leadership for oversight, evaluation and assistance of federal- and state-based insurance exchanges. 

Earlier in her career, she was the enterprise vice president of Medicaid at Health Care Service Corp. for Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Montana and its subsidiaries. She has extensive experience working in the state Medicaid agency in Minnesota as it transitioned to a managed care system. She started her career as the Minnesota Medicare and Medicaid ombudsman.

MacDonald holds a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., and a bachelor’s degree in human services administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. 

Kim Foltz 

CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa 

Kim Foltz was appointed CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa in September 2015. She brings more than 20 years of strategic leadership experience to the role. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group Inc., a diversified Fortune 500 health and well-being company.

Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Foltz was employed by Meridian Health Plan, where she most recently worked as the director of operations and as the interim director of network development. In that position, she was responsible for the leadership and oversight of health plan operations for the only Medicaid managed care organization contracted with the state of Iowa. She was also the primary liaison with the state of Iowa, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Iowa Medicaid Enterprise to facilitate communications and ensure contract compliance. 

Foltz is currently a member of the U.S. Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Task Force of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. She has also served on the board of directors of the American Heart Association for the past 10 years. She has been recognized as a Business Record Forty Under 40 honoree and by Lite 104.1 as an Outstanding Woman award winner. She has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Grand View University, and in 2011, she graduated from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.