Insurance 2024: MONICA SCHMUDE

Schmude doesn’t hesitate to tussle with health care executives. 

In April, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare distributed a statement complaining that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield had paid the hospital 25% less than other hospitals in Hampton Roads. By the next month, Schmude had fired off an editorial to The Virginian-Pilot, pointing out that Chesapeake Regional Healthcare recently announced more than $150 million in new construction costs.

“I spend my time advocating for health care affordability because it is consumers and businesses that pay for health care, and they should not bear the burden of flagrant cost increases to fund Chesapeake’s expansion plans,” she wrote.

By June, Chesapeake Regional and the insurer had signed a multiyear contract. 

Before being named Anthem’s Virginia president in April 2023, Schmude spent almost 13 years at Cigna in different leadership positions, including serving as president of the mid-Atlantic market, which covers Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Schmude is a member of Marymount University’s board and sits on the payment models council of the national Healthcare Financial Management Association.