Executive Director of Health Plan Resigns

California Advantage, a health plan formed by the California Medical Assn. to compete with HMOs and other private insurers, said John Gray has resigned as its executive director after a dispute over the plan’s strategy. John Ramey, a former state health-care official, was named acting executive director. Gray had held the post since October 1995. “To my knowledge, he wasn’t fired,” Ramey said of Gray’s departure. “There was a difference of opinion about the future direction of the organization and what needed to be done.” California Advantage is a doctor-owned managed-care company with nearly 7,500 physician investors and fewer than 6,000 members. Ramey is the former executive of the state’s Managed Risk-Medical Risk Insurance Board, which runs the state’s insurance purchasing cooperative for small businesses.