2003 Physician Executive: award winners selected.

Harold Ray, MD, and Samuel Nussbaum, MD, are the winners of the 2003 Physician Executive awards, sponsored by the American College of Physician Executives and Modern Physician magazine.

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Ray, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, is the winner of the second annual award for Lifetime Achievement.

Nussbaum, 55, executive vice president and chief medical officer of Anthem, Indianapolis, is the winner of the sixth annual Physician Executive Award of Excellence.

Ray, 70, who plans to retire this summer, is an obstetrician/gynecologist who practiced for 30 years in Sacramento, Calif., and delivered an estimated 7,000 babies while building an executive career that included stints as board chairman of Sacramento Physician Network, a 900-physician independent practice association, and chairman of Omni Health Plan, a 140,000-member HMO.

Nussbaum joined BJC Health System in 1996 as executive vice president of medical affairs and system integration and served as chairman and chief executive officer of Health Partners of the Midwest, a joint health plan of BJC and Washington University School of Medicine. At Anthem, Nussbaum has spearheaded a number of quality-improvement and disease-management initiatives and a pay-for-performance system.

The winners were selected by a panel of physician executives selected by the ACPE and Modern Physician.