Arizona HealthPulseSM
Gary D. Smethers
As Senior Vice President of Health Services and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), Gary D. Smethers, M.D., is responsible for overseeing the development of corporate medical policies and the daily administrative functions of the Health Services Division. In addition to the academics of medical policy development, those functions include: medical underwriting, medical claims review, clinical quality improvement, care management, disease management, health promotion/wellness, utilization review and provider credentialing. In this capacity, he manages a division of over 200 employees. Dr. Smethers also contributes his expertise to the development of corporate strategy as it relates to health services, and serves as a corporate liaison to the Arizona clinical community most notably the Arizona Medical Association. Dr. Smethers has been with BCBSAZ since 1994.
A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Smethers received his bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College, and earned his medical degree from the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center Integrated Program in Phoenix where he also had the honor of serving as chief resident. Now a long time Arizonan, Dr. Smethers is well known within the local medical community. Before joining BCBSAZ, he served as the director of emergency medicine and admissions at the Phoenix Veterans Administration Medical Center (now Carl Hayden VA Medical Center); as medical director for Phoenix Health Plan, one of Arizona's AHCCCS (Medicaid) HMOs; and as medical director for Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center (now Banner Thunderbird Medical Center). Prior to his career in administrative medicine, Dr. Smethers had an internal medicine private practice in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Committed to the academic advancement of health services, Dr. Smethers is a member of the American College of Physicians, The American College of Physician Executives, and has been a member of the teaching clinical faculty of the University of Arizona, College of Medicine since 1983. He is a past chairman of the National Council of Physician Executives of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and is a member of the Arizona State University (ASU) W. P. Carey School of Business Curriculum Advisory Board for Health Administration and Policy. Nationally recognized as one of the leading experts within the health care delivery and insurance industries, he is often a guest speaker for a variety of organizations especially in the area of Health Promotion and Wellness.
Dr. Smethers is active in the community at large, having served on many community volunteer boards including: Body Positive, an AIDS clinical research and services organization, The Phoenix Museum of History, the Glendale YMCA, the Herberger Theater Center, and Ballet Arizona. He is currently an active member of the John C. Lincoln Health Network Quality and Safety of Patient Care Committee and the Arizona State University Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts Dean's Council.