Lawrence (Larry) Lewin, founder of the healthcare consulting firm The Lewin Group, died Sunday at his home in Chevy Chase, Md., according to an announcement on the organization's website.
No cause of death was listed. He was 74.
Lewin began his health policy career in 1969, serving as vice-chair of the McNerney Task Force on Medicaid, and shortly thereafter founded Lewin Associates, which later became The Lewin Group. He served as The Lewin Group's CEO from its founding in 1970 until 1999.
He also served as a board member for a number of healthcare companies, including Intermountain Health Care, Cardionet, and Medco Health Solutions, and was a member of the Institute of Medicine, receiving the institute's Yarmolinsky Medal for Distinguished Service in 2004.
Lewin was chair of the Health Reform Advisory Committee on benefits, coverage, and financing for the Presidential transition between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
The Lewin Group, which was known for its nonpartisan work on health policy, was bought by health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group in 2007. The group continues to have clients from both sides of the political spectrum, but it drew special attention a few years ago when it published a study that opponents of the Affordable Care Act that employer-sponsored healthcare coverage would greatly decline if a so-called "public option" was included in healthcare reform. The public option eventually was dropped from the law.
Lewin received an A.B. degree from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps and recently was a member of the Task Force on the Future of Military Medicine.
"Larry Lewin was a person who was always in the middle of health policy, blending policy savvy with analytic capacity and founding a firm more than 40 years ago that pioneered quantitative analysis of key issues," Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, PhD, said in an email to 鶹ý.
"There wasn't a policy question that didn't interest him, and he balanced the use of numbers with an awareness of how important health care is for people. He was truly a giant, and truly a warm, gentle soul," Davis said.