Dean Gruner, MD has served as the President & CEO of ThedaCare since April 2008 and has thirty-one years of experience creating new models of healthcare delivery, financing and quality improvement. In 1985, Dr. Gruner was the lead physician in the organization of area family practice physicians and the establishment of an IPA-model HMO offered through Fireman’s Fund Insurance. In 1986, he was elected President of Valley Health Care, a community-wide IPA that transitioned the plan enrollment to a physician-owned HMO called United Health of Wisconsin, subsequently renamed Touchpoint Health Plan. NCQA recognized Touchpoint as the highest quality health plan in the US in 2002 and 2003. In March of 2004, Touchpoint was sold to United Health Group.