Becker's Hospital Review

Save the date! Becker's Hospital Review Annual Meeting – May 7-9, 2015 – Chicago 60 David Abelson, MD, president of Park Nicollet Health Services in Saint Louis Park, Minn., and senior executive vice president of Bloomington, Minn.-based Health Partners, will retire at the end of the year. Terry Akin transitioned into his role as president and CEO of Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health upon the retirement of CEO Tim Rice. Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine named Lisa Allen, PhD, as its first chief patient experi- ence officer. St. Louis-based Ascension Health named Rhonda Anderson as its new senior vice president and CFO, effective Oct. 13. Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health System named Eric Bieber, MD, president and CEO. United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, W.Va., an- nounced the retirement of CEO Bruce Carter. Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System named Edward G. Chadwick executive vice president and CFO. David Clark is the new president of Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Baptist Health System in Birmingham, Ala., named Chris Davis, MD, to the position of CIO/ CMIO. Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health System an- nounced the appointment of Anne Boland Doci- mo, MD, MBA, as CMO. Philip Fasano, executive vice president and CIO of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente Hos- pitals and Health Plan, resigned in September. Spencer Hamons, COO and CIO of Taos (N.M.) Health System, announced plans to step down from his position to become regional CIO for Healthcare at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based NetApp. Wellmont Health System in Kingsport, Tenn., named Bart Hove interim president and CEO. Macon, Ga.-based Coliseum Health System named Lance Jones as its new CEO. Michael McEachern was named the permanent CEO of Bowie (Texas) Memorial Hospital. Cleveland Clinic's chief experience officer, James Merlino, MD, left his post to serve as president and CMO of Press Ganey Associates' strategic consulting division. Gene Michalski, former president and CEO of Royal Oak-based Beaumont Health System, is heading the new health system resulting from the merger of Beaumont Health System, Botsford Health Care and Oakwood Healthcare as CEO. Brian Connolly, former CEO of Dearborn-based Oakwood Healthcare, will serve as president of network development and future initiatives. Paul LaCasse, DO, former CEO of Farmington Hills- based Botsford Health Care, will serve as chair of the clinical leadership council. Wilmington, Del.-based Christiana Care Health System appointed Janice E. Nevin, MD, MPH, as president and CEO. John O'Neil, president and CEO of St. Vincent's Health System in Birmingham, Ala., stepped down from his role in late September. St. Vincent's appointed Neeysa Biddle, former executive vice president and COO, as interim CEO. Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System CEO Nancy Schlichting announced she will retire from her role in Dec. 2016. Her future successor, Oakland, Calif.-based Alameda Health System CEO Wright L. Lassiter, is joining Henry Ford as president Dec. 15. Joseph Sluka assumes his role as president and CEO of Bend, Ore.-based St. Charles Health Sys- tem Dec. 1. Franklin, Tenn.-based Capella Healthcare ap- pointed Troy E. Sybert, MD, as executive vice president and CMO. Jackson, Miss.-based Baptist Health Systems named Bill Thompson, CPA, as CFO. Joseph Trunfio, PhD, president and CEO of Mor- ristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System, an- nounced his retirement. Dr. Trunfio will serve until the health system names a replacement. Karen Westervelt was appointed senior vice pres- ident and COO of New York City-based NewY- ork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. Burlington, Vt.-based Fletcher Allen Health Care named Eileen Whalen, RN, as president and COO, effective in early 2015. Hospital & Health System Executive Moves never taken myself too seriously, and I call others out who start to forget that. Every day we come to work is an honor. You can do great things and have fun at work. They are not mutually exclusive. How do you revitalize yourself? I have three passions: flying, running and music. They stimulate and release stress in different ways. Flying is the only thing I can do outside of work that requires total concentration and gets my mind off daily stress. When you're flying, you can't think about anything else. Running for the opposite reason: It requires little mental concentration, so I can relax and think freely. Music has been my love and my first career, whether listening or playing. It is pure emotion to me. David Crosby wrote a song called, "Music is Love" and I believe that. I started my very first career as a disc jockey, and I have about 130,000 digital songs and several hundred vinyl albums. What's one piece of advice you remember most clearly? One of my Wharton professors said, "You should always have five people under you who think they can do a better job than you, and three of them that are right." Too often in academic healthcare, leaders are threatened by people under them who have skill sets they don't. I try to surround myself with incredibly smart people who I can learn from. At Jefferson, that exists all around me. I have at least five people who think they are smarter than me and at least three who are right. What do you consider your greatest achievement at TJUH Sys- tem so far? I have been in my role for a year, and we received a $110 million gift from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation, the largest gift in our 190-year history, in my first year on the job. That required setting Jefferson up organizationally for an optimistic future. I'm the first combined president of the university and health system in almost 20 years. Jefferson has always been considered pre- mier for clinical care with amazing doctors, nurses and staff. But when I came here, I reported to three different boards and management teams, sometimes with cross purposes. I was coming to lead an organization that wasn't really set up below me or above me to be nimble. Within a year, thanks to the amazing work of our trustees, we've gone from boards with 130 people to one board of about 40 with an executive com- mittee of about 17. Because of that, we were able to get together to create a strategic vision: "We will reimagine healthcare, education and discovery to create unparalleled value." We currently live under what I like to call the "old math," which is National In- stitutes of Health funding, clinical reimbursements and tuition. For us, the new math is innovation and philanthropy. We got rid of the artificial divisions that existed between the university, physicians and hospitals and created a four-pillar model: academic, clinical, innovation and philanthropy. I believe that creativity, optimism and commitment to excellence is what motivated Sidney Kimmel, who has those same qualities, to give a transformative gift to Jefferson. n

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