Kim Bimestefer on Tuesday was named executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, the agency that oversees the state’s Medicaid program. The agency serves more than 1.3 million Coloradans.
Bimestefer, a private-sector health care industry executive, begins work on Jan. 8.
“Kim is an experienced health care leader and innovator,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said in a written statement. “We are fortunate to have someone with Kim’s tenure of leading health care organizations join our team.”
Most recently, Bimestefer was running her own health care industry consulting company, and before that she served as president of Cigna Mountain States. She was also chairwoman of Cigna Healthcare of Colorado from 2012 to 2016.
The governor’s office says Bimestefer began her health care career at a nonprofit insurance company in 1988, rising to a board-appointed officer overseeing about half the company’s membership and revenue.
“I look forward to collaborating with the health care industry and being part of an incredible team that is passionate about serving Colorado’s most vulnerable citizens and committed to improving the health of Colorado,” she said in a statement.
Bimestefer takes over the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing from Sue Birch, who stepped down late last year to take a position as the Health Care Authority director for Washington state.
Birch left the department as hospitals and health care providers across the state were waiting on millions of dollars in reimbursements after the state Medicaid department. Her departure also came amid a mass of departures from Hickenlooper’s administration as he heads into his final year of office with a list of goals.
Birch had been appointed as executive director of the DHCPF by Hickenlooper in January 2011.
