AbsoluteCare, a Leading Value-Based Primary Care Provider, Announces Michael P. Radu as CEO

BALTIMORE, March 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AbsoluteCare announced today that healthcare industry veteran Michael P. Radu has been appointed CEO. Mr. Radu replaces former CEO Alan Cohn, who will remain as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Cohn was a co-founder of AbsoluteCare and has served as the Company's CEO since its inception in 2000. 

"Mike possesses an unmatched mix of provider, payor, and regulatory experience coupled with a forward-thinking mentality that the board believes is imperative to lead AbsoluteCare into the future," said Cohn. "Over the past years, we have made tremendous enhancements to our care model with outstanding results. At AbsoluteCare, our care goes beyond medicine, and have achieved outcomes of not only decreasing cost and improving quality but transforming the lives of the members we serve. Mike's demonstrated leadership ability and extensive healthcare experience makes him a perfect fit to lead AbsoluteCare through its next phase of growth."

"I am thrilled to join and lead AbsoluteCare at this important time for the company," said Mr. Radu. "I have tremendous regard for the company's rich history of service and am extremely optimistic about its mission and direction. I believe AbsoluteCare has significant potential to continue to transform the lives of our country's most vulnerable populations through its unique, whole-person care model. I look forward to working with the incredibly talented AbsoluteCare team to accelerate growth, spur innovation, and improve care for our members, all the while creating value for our clients."

In joining AbsoluteCare, Mr. Radu is also reunited with Chris Michalik, Managing Director at Kinderhook and former Chairman of the WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Mr. Radu and Mr. Michalik worked together at WellCare for over five years before WellCare's sale to Centene. "It is a pleasure to get to work with Mike again. Kinderhook is excited to partner with him and the AbsoluteCare team to expand the Company's proven care model to serve chronically ill patient populations throughout the U.S." 

Before joining AbsoluteCare, Mr. Radu was most recently a Senior Advisor at The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMMI). Prior to that, he ran Medicaid and Medicare health plans in various capacities, including serving as a Regional CEO for UnitedHealthcare and as an Executive Vice President for WellCare Health Plans, responsible for its Part D health plans and specialty pharmacies. During his tenure at WellCare, Mr. Radu also ran various enterprise-wide functions, including clinical operations, behavioral health, and quality along with Medicaid growth, Mr. Radu ran provider organizations throughout his career, including a multi-billion-dollar physician practice management company for Optum. He also served as CEO of a hospice and palliative care organization and ran various physician group practices. Mr. Radu holds a BA in Psychology from UCLA, and an MBA from USC.

About AbsoluteCare

Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, AbsoluteCare is a leading value-based integrated healthcare provider, focused on providing comprehensive and preventative care to the most vulnerable populations. AbsoluteCare operates a patient-centered, ambulatory intensive caring unit delivery model that becomes the primary care provider for the most complex and highest utilizing patients. AbsoluteCare currently operates out of five facilities: Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore and Prince George's County, Maryland; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Since 2000, the Company has treated tens of thousands of high acuity, chronically ill patients by leveraging innovative population health management tools with a unique "wrap-around" care model. Living up to the mission that care goes beyond medicine, AbsoluteCare recognizes that comprehensive primary care is just one piece of working with complex populations and its model addresses physical, behavioral, and environmental factors including social determinants of health such as substance use, transportation, food insecurity, and housing instability.

For more information please visit: www.absolutecare.com

About Kinderhook

Founded in 2003, Kinderhook Industries, LLC is a private investment firm that manages over $3.3 billion of committed capital. We have made in excess of 250 investments and follow-on acquisitions since inception. Kinderhook's investment philosophy is predicated on matching unique, growth-oriented investment opportunities with exceptional financial expertise and our proprietary network of operating partners. Our focus is on middle market businesses with defensible niche market positioning in the healthcare services, environmental / business services, and automotive / light manufacturing sectors. We have a track record of successfully and consistently building industry leaders.

For more information please visit: www.kinderhook.com

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SOURCE AbsoluteCare