Oakland, CA, Feb. 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), a nonprofit coalition of some of the largest employers in the nation committed to reducing health care costs, improving care quality and equity, has announced the appointment of Raymond Tsai, M.D. M.S. as its new Vice President of Advanced Primary Care. In this role, Dr. Tsai will lead the member organization’s strategic initiative to implement advanced primary care in markets across the country.

Dr. Tsai brings to the role a broad range of experience and expertise in the primary care delivery system. He joins PBGH as the organization and its members tackle new strategic goals over the next five years, chief among them, to ensure members and their employees have access to high-quality, cost-effective primary care, known as advanced primary care.

“PBGH is committed to building on our pioneering work to transform primary care in the U.S.,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, President and CEO of PBGH. “Ensuring access to affordable and high-quality primary care providers is a top priority for us and our members, and the addition of Dr. Tsai to our team will be extremely valuable in helping to increase access to advanced primary care across the country.”

Dr. Tsai most recently worked as the clinician executive who was part of setting up primary care clinics at The Wonderful Company and was the clinical leader as a practicing primary care physician. He is also a physician leader in the community as immediate past president of Kern County Medical Society and Associate Clinical Professor at University of California, San Francisco – Fresno. Previously, he worked with the World Health Organization’s Department of Essential Drugs and Medicine and in New Orleans rebuilding health care infrastructure after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He is an alumnus of the California Health Care Foundation Leadership Program, and was recognized for his work in 2020 as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a partnership among the presidential centers of George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson. Dr. Tsai is a graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine, Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the UCLA Family Medicine residency program.

Dr. Tsai’s experience and leadership will help PBGH continue to serve its ever-growing membership of the nation’s largest employers and public purchasers, which are collectively responsible for providing high-value health coverage to more than 21 million Americans and their families.