Blue Shield names new chief pharmacy officer

Blue Shield of California has hired Hayley Park as its chief pharmacy officer, putting a longtime Kaiser Permanente pharmacy executive in charge of its drug programs. (prnewswire.com) The nonprofit insurer announced Park’s appointment on April 20, 2026, naming her senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer. She most recently served as vice president of pharmacy operations and services at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. (prnewswire.com) Park will oversee Blue Shield’s prescription drug programs and work on making medicines “more affordable, accessible, and easier to use,” according to the company. Blue Shield said she brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience, including clinical work as a pharmacist. (prnewswire.com) The hire lands as Blue Shield is still remaking how it buys and manages prescription drugs. In August 2023, the insurer launched “Pharmacy Care Reimagined,” a model that split pharmacy functions among several companies instead of relying on one traditional pharmacy benefit manager. (blueshieldca.com) Blue Shield said that 2023 model was built to serve its then-4.8 million members with more transparent pricing and projected savings of as much as $500 million a year once fully implemented. The company said the system would use partners including Amazon Pharmacy, Prime Therapeutics, Abarca, CVS Caremark and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. (blueshieldca.com) Healthcare Dive reported April 21 that Blue Shield now serves 6 million beneficiaries across commercial, Medicaid and Medicare plans, and that Park’s appointment comes as payers face rising spending on specialty medicines and obesity drugs. The publication also said Blue Shield struck a direct deal in 2024 for a lower-cost Humira biosimilar as part of its drug-cost strategy. (healthcaredive.com) At Kaiser, Blue Shield said, Park helped lower prescription costs by changing how medications were selected and managed, especially for complex and high-cost treatments. The company also said she helped lead vaccine planning during the COVID-19 pandemic, including work on a large-scale vaccination site. (prnewswire.com) Blue Shield has also been reshaping its leadership structure. Healthcare Dive reported that the insurer created a parent company, Ascendiun, in early 2025, and that Mike Stuart took the permanent chief executive role last summer after serving as interim CEO. (healthcaredive.com) Park said she joined because Blue Shield is “a mission-driven nonprofit health plan” focused on improving members’ health and lives, “not just lowering costs for medications.” Her job now is to turn that pitch into day-to-day pharmacy operations for one of California’s biggest health plans. (prnewswire.com)