Rich McCarthy, MD

Associate Executive Director for the Mid-Atlantic States

Dr. McCarthy is TPMG’s associate executive director with oversight for the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (MAPMG). In this role, Dr. McCarthy leads more than 1,800 physicians and staff members who deliver superior health care to nearly 800,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group operates 31 medical centers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and has affiliations with several top hospitals in the region.

In 2018, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States was the only health plan in the nation to receive a rating of 5—the highest possible rating—from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for every insurance plan offered (Commercial, Medicare, MD and VA Medicaid). More than 1,000 national plans were evaluated by NCQA.

Dr. McCarthy also serves as a member of Kaiser Permanente’s National Health Policy Committee that directs development of KP’s public policy positions and is on Kaiser Permanente’s National Telehealth Sponsors Steering Committee that helps ensure we provide our members, patients, and clinicians with robust telehealth options that position the organization as leading the charge with engaging, effective, and responsive new technologies.

Dr. McCarthy, who joined The Permanente Medical Group in 1997, was a member of the original TPMG physician leadership transition team for MAPMG in 2009, and he served for 9 years as the physician-in-chief (PIC) for the largest service area of Kaiser Permanente’s Mid-Atlantic Region, the DC and Suburban Maryland service area (DCSM). As PIC, he created an exceptional leadership team, developed a culture of accountability, and successfully implemented innovations in clinical care and new regional clinical service lines in one of the fastest growing Kaiser Permanente service areas in the country.

Under Dr. McCarthy’s leadership, DCSM membership grew by 41 percent (from 226,000 patients to 334,000 patients) and increased from 533 to 735 doctors. Additionally, the DCSM service area rapidly improved physician practice while creating new service lines for MAPMG despite constraints on clinical space.

Dr. McCarthy developed strong relationships with external hospital partners and integrated Permanente Medicine into five of MAPMG’s core hospitals. This close integration assured 24/7 inpatient care by Permanente physicians for our sickest patients. Dr. McCarthy also helped develop and oversee the first multispecialty outpatient hub for Kaiser Permanente in the Mid-Atlantic States (Capitol Hill Medical Center). He oversaw the opening of the first 24/7 clinical decision unit and guided the creation and expansion of four other multispecialty hubs at Kaiser Permanente in the Mid-Atlantic States.

Dr. McCarthy has served as a member of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group Board of Directors and as chairman of the Governance and Administrative Issues Committee of the MAPMG Board (2015–2017). He was the Kaiser Permanente Maryland Medicaid Program medical director from 2013 until 2017.

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