Washington, DC, April 21, 2020 – The National Association of Vision Care Plans (NAVCP) announced during its April 20 board meeting webinar that Kirk Rothrock, CEO of Versant Health, has assumed the Chairman seat of the Board of Directors for the 2020-2022 term.
“As the unified voice of the industry, the advocacy NAVCP provides is essential in advancing the important and valuable role managed vision care has in the health care ecosystem. It’s as important now as it has ever been to remove barriers to accessing quality eye care,” said Rothrock. “Our member organizations will continue to work collaboratively to drive improvements in the vision care experience for our members and for the eye care professionals who serve them.”
Rothrock succeeds Lukas Ruecker, President of EyeMed Vision Care, who served as NAVCP Chairman since 2018. Kate Renwick-Espinosa, President of VSP Vision Care and NAVCP Secretary/Treasurer, will assume the Chairwoman-elect position.
During Ruecker’s term, he shifted NAVCP’s focus to three key areas: advocacy, collaboration and administrative simplification. This realignment resulted in the development of the NAVCP retail council, established efficiencies within the NAVCP Credentialing Alliance and activated an advocacy strategy that increased the voice of managed vision care at the state and federal level.
“We as an association are navigating uncharted waters related to COVID-19 and the impact on the managed vision care industry,” said Julian Roberts, NAVCP executive director. “NAVCP is fortunate to have senior leadership that will allow us to navigate this national emergency and emerge with a stronger voice ensuring that decision-makers understand that vision care is essential health care.”
About NAVCP
NAVCP is a nonprofit association serving as a unified voice for the managed vision care industry. The association provides a forum for cooperative industry collaboration on initiatives that work to preserve and strengthen consumer access to affordable vision insurance and benefits. NAVCP member companies operate extensive networks of vision care providers in all 50 states. Those networks cover approximately 170 Million (53 percent) Americans.