Company leader
Russ Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
Availity
Russ Thomas is chief executive of Availity. Availity is a health information network for eligibility checks, claims, and other administrative transactions among providers, health plans, and technology companies, so a clinic does not have to log into a separate portal for every payer. The company says more than 3 million providers, 2,000 health plans, and 1,000 technology partners use it, and that it handles more than 13 billion transactions a year.
Early life
He earned a bachelor of arts from Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Virginia, and a law degree from the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.
Business
Before Availity he was chief executive of Gold Standard, a drug-information database and clinical reference. He sold Gold Standard to Reed Elsevier in 2006 and stayed as a senior executive in Reed Elsevier's clinical information business until 2008. He has said, "I go to work every day with one goal in mind, to delight our customers."
Personal
He lives in Ponte Vedra, Florida, with his wife Claudia and their golden retrievers, Bella and Beau. He is an avid cyclist and a licensed commercial pilot.
He served on the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, in Jacksonville, Florida, from 2015 to 2022. He is a board member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, where he chairs the Healthcare Policy Council, and he also sits on the boards of Jacksonville University and Iodine Software.