Joy Barua, Director of Community Benefit and Health Policy. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.
By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– Kaiser Permanente Hawaii announced today the promotion of Joy Barua to director of community benefit and health policy. Most recently, Barua served as director of community benefit for the state’s largest integrated health organization, responsible for planning, designing, implementing and evaluating community benefit programs and services for the Hawaii region. In his expanded role, he will work with the organization’s strategic planning, government relations, and regional leadership on the state health exchange and health care transformation resulting from the federal health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Barua will also track emerging policy trends, developing and recommending positions and strategies on health policy.
Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Barua served as interim executive director and director of finance for Honolulu Community Action Program (HCAP), a private nonprofit human service agency. Previous to HCAP, he was project director/business manager for Pacific Gateway Center, which provides a wide range of direct and support services to meet the needs of immigrants, refugees and low-income residents of Hawaii.
Barua is a recipient of the 2010 Minority Small Business Champion award given by the Small Business Association, was named to Pacific Business News’ (PBN) “Forty Under 40” class of 2009, and a finalist for PBN’s “CFO of the Year” in the nonprofit, public agency category. His professional memberships include Aloha United Way, Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations, Hawaii Asset Building Coalition, Envision Hawaii, and Hawaii Business Education Association. Board memberships include Hawaii Pacific University’s Entrepreneurship Center, Empower Oahu, and the Kalihi-Palama-Chinatown Community Implementing Group. He holds two master’s degrees – one in organizational change and an MBA in management – both from Hawaii Pacific University. He also has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from HPU and is a lecturer for the university’s business and entrepreneurship programs.