Becker's Hospital Review

16 2015 YEAR REVIEW in in his retiring year as president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, for his commitment to eliminating healthcare disparities and for launching the AHA's #123forEquity Pledge to Act Campaign. I think a lot about disparities in healthcare in the same way I thought the Institute of Medicine's now seminal "To Err is Human" report when it was released. e industry was in denial for several years before we finally figured out, "Yes, this is bad. We've got to fix this." As a result, over the last 10 years, the industry has done a remarkable job at re- ducing preventable harm and creating a safer environment, breaking down the power gradient and changing culture. I think that, with respect to diversity and disparities in care, based on race or eth- nicity and even broader, it's critical that we focus the same kind of attention and same kind of intense effort as we have around patient safety. I give Rich Umbdenstock a tremendous amount of credit as the leader of our industry for standing up and saying, "We have a problem" in 2011, and in 2015, saying, "We haven't achieved the kind of results we expected to achieve. We've got to redouble our efforts." Mary Lou Mastro President and CEO of Elm- hurst (Ill.) Memorial Health- care Former House Rep. Patrick Ken- nedy gets my vote. e publication of his book, A Com- mon Struggle: A Personal Journey rough the Past and Fu- ture of Mental Illness and Addiction, has forced a dialogue about mental illness and its associated stigma. Mental illness is the leading cause of disability worldwide, yet it has been poorly represented on the pub- lic agenda and treatment is inadequately funded. By sharing his personal journey, Patrick Kennedy encourages others to discuss their problems and offers hope to those who still struggle. As a prominent public figure, his story has the power to in- fluence both public policy and individual lives. Joseph Mullany CEO of Detroit Medical Center I believe Kelly Adams and Alfredo Rojas, Detroit EMS workers who were attacked in October and received critical injuries while performing their job, are heroes of the year. Lynn Nicholas President and CEO of Massachusetts Hospital Association (Burlington) I would nominate Chief Justice John Rob- erts for his deciding vote in the decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act. Mike Robertson CEO of Piedmont Newnan (Ga.) Hospital e patient. To- day, healthcare is ever-changing and the catalyst of that change is our pa- tients. Increasingly, they are becoming more informed when choosing a health- care provider and want immediate access to consumer reviews, quality data and con- sults with their physicians when they need them. Richard Roodman CEO of Valley Medical Center (Renton, Wash.) Without hesitation I would nominate Paul Ramsey, MD, CEO of UW Medicine in Seattle. I would nominate him for his cre- ativity and effectiveness in leveraging his scope to transform healthcare — not only locally and throughout the Northwest, but potentially nationally. e UW School of Medicine, for example, receives more NIH grants than any other public school of medicine in the country, second only to Harvard for all medical schools, and UW School of Medicine is leading research to transform medicine in heart disease, can- cer, Alzheimer's, behavioral health and a host of other areas. e WWAMI [Wash- ington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho] program for medical education in the Northwest works with legislators in five northwestern states. Tomi Ryba President and CEO of El Camino Hospital (Mountain View, Calif.) Author and physi- cian Atul Gawande, MD, has been trans- formational. His recent book Being Mortal serves as a reminder that we need to actively listen to each person's wishes as to how they choose to live and die — and that we should with- hold our deeply held professional and personal biases and serve their prefer- ences as priority. I provided each employ- ee and board member with a copy of his book. People were gratified and reported it prompted them to re-think their own life's wishes and gave them better insight at the bedside. Cherie Sibley, CEO of Clark Regional Medical Center (Winchester, Ky.) e nurse is who I consider the person of the year. Nursing is an emotionally ful- filling profession, while also working to promote health, prevent disease and help patients cope with illness. According to Gallup, nursing is still the most trust- ed profession in the United States. As a healthcare leader, I see the nurse as an in- tegral part of the healthcare system. Earl Steinberg, MD CEO of xG Health Solutions (Columbia, Mo.) It's a tough ques- tion, but I came up with Patrick Con- way, MD, CMO and deputy adminis- trator for innovation and quality at CMS. Patrick has done a tremendous amount to advance value-based payment by Medi- care. He has done it in a very thoughtful and professional way that I respect. I be- lieve Medicare has to play a leadership role in the transition toward value-based pay- ment, and therefore his efforts are particu-

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