Becker's Hospital Review

38 POPULATION HEALTH 38 CEO / STRATEGY How 5 health system CEOs got into healthcare By Kelly Gooch F amily members, personal experiences and a desire to help peo- ple are among the factors that piqued health system CEOs' in- terest in healthcare, they told Becker's Hospital Review this year. Odette Bolano, BSN. President and CEO of Saint Alphonsus Health System (Boise, Idaho). I grew up in a household with many people in the medical field. My father is a retired physician. I have many uncles who are physicians. My mother was a medical lab director, and so was her sister. I grew up in a sea of passionate people who wanted to serve. Sometimes you're molded by what you experience as a child and growing up. I have two brothers who are doctors — one's an orthope- dic surgeon, the other's a dentist. My son is in his fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta. ere's always been a great yearning to serve in the most personal way, providing compassion, empathy and maybe, at times, impacting peo- ple in the most profound way. I think that's what drew me to be in healthcare. I'm a nurse by background. I went into nursing and want- ed to be at the bedside to understand from a front-line perspective what it was to be a clinician. Denise Brooks-Williams. Senior Vice President and CEO of De- troit-based Henry Ford Health System's north market. If I think back, I would say it all started with a favorite aunt who worked in healthcare, and through her work I spent a lot of time around hos- pitals as a young person. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare as I started my college studies. My first exposure to public health was as an undergraduate student working on an end-stage renal failure research project. I learned early the significant health disparities among African Americans, and I was curious about why and how to have an impact. e professor I worked for suggested I apply for a summer internship offered for students of color. e next summer I was selected as an intern in the summer enrichment pro- gram — a program developed to expose African American potential college students to the field of healthcare administration and policy. Aer that summer I knew I wanted to be a healthcare administrator. Joan Coffman. President and CEO of St. Tammany Health System (Covington, La.). ose who serve in healthcare frequently feel called to serve. My daddy was an entrepreneur and small family business owner, and my mother was a nurse at a local medical practice. I of- ten visited her and became very intrigued by the physicians, clinicians and support staff working together to care for patients and collabo- rating with local business leaders to improve the quality of life in our community. My healthcare career began at St. Tammany Parish Hospital as a ra- diologic technologist and has truly come full circle. rough the years I transitioned into management and led hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois before coming back home in 2018 to join our hospital family. I have found the perpetual change that is the nature of healthcare to be challenging, rewarding and inspiring. Our patients look to us to lead innovations in healthcare and provide high-quality services — every patient, every touch, every time. Cynthia Moore-Hardy. President and CEO of Lake Health (Con- cord Township, Ohio). Empowering the community toward lifestyle change and a lifetime of health and wellness has been a primary goal and passion of mine throughout my career. It is exciting and gratify- ing to be living my passion to improve health in my own community and beyond. e needs are so great, but the future — through science, technology, compassion and collaboration — offers such hope. Jaewon Ryu, MD. President and CEO of Geisinger (Danville, Pa.). I had grown up with physicians in the family, so was always familiar with healthcare, but got interested in the policy side of things as well along the way. Aer college, I worked as an AmeriCorps member in a teaching and enrichment program within an inner-city school, where I saw firsthand the impact of policy on the lives of vulnerable popula- tions. I took this interest with me to medical school, where I became active in community health programs where the same themes came to light — things like how "upstream" policies impacted people's down- stream ability to attain health. It was this interest that led to many sub- sequent decisions, whether entering a joint-degree program to aug- ment my formal learning, entering the field of emergency medicine, working in health policy, or then taking on roles in administration. All the while along the way, I enjoyed the clinical practice of emergency medicine, and in many ways, it has informed these other stops on the journey. e ER really is the crossroads of healthcare where so many components of the industry come together. n Encompass home health, hospice CEO steps down amid strategic review By Morgan Haefner T he CEO of Encompass Health's home health and hospice business is stepping down as the Bir- mingham, Ala.-based post-acute provider contin- ues to review strategic alternatives for the business. April Anthony will step down as CEO of home health and hospice in mid June. During her six-year tenure in the role, Ms. Anthony grew the segment's revenue from $400 mil- lion to $1.1 billion and oversaw substantial expansions. Ms. Anthony's departure comes as Encompass' board of directors continues to review strategic alternatives for the home health and hospice service, according to an April 2 news release. Encompass started exploring a range of options for its home health and hospice divi- sion, including an initial public offering, spinoff, merger or sale, in December 2020. Encompass doesn't have a timeframe for when the review will be complete. n

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