James E. Fanale, MD, will serve in a consultant role for the Rhode Island-based health system following his retirement.
Care New England Health System (CNE) announced this week that its president and CEO, James E. Fanale, MD, plans to retire next year.
Fanale has served as president and CEO of the Providence, Rhode Island-based health system since 2018. Following his retirement "in early 2023," Fanale will provide strategic advice to the board and help the new selected CEO transition into the role.
"Many years ago, it was my passion for caring for others which led me to practice as a geriatrician, which I still do to this very day, aside from serving as CNE’s president and CEO. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, because it gave me the opportunity to pursue my true passion of caring for others," Fanale said in a statement. "Now, after having spent my career doing what I enjoy and feeling that I’ve effectively improved access to state-of-the-art healthcare for all individuals who come to CNE, it’s time to leave the office behind and be with my wonderful wife and children."
CNE's board chair, Charles Reppucci, thanked Fanale for his work in a statement, saying "He is a stalwart supporter of CNE and a respected community leader on healthcare quality and accessibility. His successes and accomplishments are extraordinary. As a practicing physician and CEO, his healthcare perspectives have been a benefit to Rhode Island, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude."
According to Providence Business News, Fanale will join CNE board members, executives, and clinical leadership to create a search committee for his successor. A transition team will then be formed to help create a smooth transition for the new CEO.
Fanale's announcement comes one month after LifeSpan president and CEO, Timothy Babineau, MD, announced he will be stepping down on May 31. Similar to Fanale, Babineau will also stay on as a consultant for the hospital system until the end of September.
CNE and LifeSpan failed to merge earlier this year in an eight-hospital system when the Federal Trade Commission and Rhode Island regulators filed a suit to block the proposed merger in February.
"Our review clearly established that Lifespan and CNE compete aggressively with each other across many inpatient and outpatient service lines," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said in a media release.
"Eliminating this competition will have the same effects here as seen across the country following mergers of this size: rising healthcare costs, lower quality, and reduced access," Neronha said. "The parties simply have not demonstrated why these results would not happen here and how they would be able to deliver on promised benefits that would outweigh these risks."
The FTC formally dismissed an administrative antitrust complaint at the beginning of March, capping and memorializing the failed merger.
While women make up 80% of the healthcare workforce, a recent study conducted by JAMA Network Open found that only 15.3% of CEOs in health systems are women. Additionally, only 17.5% of board of director chairpersons are women.
This disparity is seen across upper leadership in hospitals and health systems, even with the increased integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices into healthcare organizations. Leaders can help women and others to lessen this disparity through sharing their own stories and lifting those up who aspire to serve.
Join Alisahah Jackson, MD, system vice president of population health and policy for CommonSpirit Health; Chrisie Scott, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Virtua Health; Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County; and Lisa Shannon, CEO of Allina Health, who shared insights about closing the gender gap during a roundtable discussion hosted by HealthLeaders in February.
The panelists shared how they were inspired by other strong women and leaders in their lives to move ahead in their careers.
"Medicine was a calling. Part of the reason I chose medicine was because I come from a family that was involved in the community … My grandmother, being one of the first African-American, female entrepreneurs and starting her own business in Ohio, owned and operated a daycare. It was in our DNA and our legacy to give back and support our community," Jackson said. "For me, I chose family medicine because I felt called to that aspect of community medicine and behavioral health in this holistic model of care."
The panelists also shared how they persevered through hardship and utilized their strengths to elevate their careers.
"I had one leader... and she said to me, 'Chrisie, there is no room for creativity in healthcare. This is a serious business.' There was something about the way she said it that sent me on a mission to prove the theory wrong," Scott said. "I'm glad that I stuck with that [mission] because it carried me. It wasn't just about creative writing; it was the way I approached problems, the way I approached differences of opinions. It was a creative spirit that helped move me forward."
Walke offered advice for women who are interested in climbing the healthcare leadership ladder and pushing through the glass ceiling by being their authentic selves and going for that next step.
"One of the things I've noticed about young women coming out of college is that they have not yet developed confidence and they're afraid of making mistakes. They put pressure on themselves that everything is supposed to be perfect, and they're supposed to have a five-year plan," Walker said. "I keep telling them, 'Your life's just beginning; it's time to learn. The only mistake you can make is not moving forward.'"
The discussion also covered how the panelists purposefully pass on their wisdom through sponsorship, mentorship, and guiding others.
Shannon shared how she found her voice as a leader and how to use that voice to lift up others, who then can continue that act for others.
"When those around us don’t lift [each other] up, it’s because they don’t think they have permission or they don’t know how to make it better," Shannon said. "When you teach [others] how to fix problems and give them permission, I have seen amazing things happen for our teams and the communities we are serving."
The $27 billion combined system will serve 5.5 million patients across six states.
Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health have announced plans to combine into one health system.
Both organizations' board of directors unanimously approved the agreement, which will be subject to regulatory review.
"The world of healthcare as we know it is changing at warp speed – and it is rapidly becoming more digital, personalized, scientific and complex," Eugene A. Woods, president and CEO of Atrium Health, said in a statement. "This strategic combination will enable us to deepen our commitments to health equity, create more jobs and opportunities for our teammates and communities, launch new game-changing innovations, and so much more. Together, we will manifest a new future that significantly elevates the care we provide to every hand we hold and every life we touch."
The combined system, Advocate Health, will operate as a $27.1 billion health and wellness delivery system, and will serve 5.5 million patients in Illinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. New headquarters will be established in Charlotte, North Carolina, while a new institute for health equity will be established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
While the organization will transition to the new umbrella brand, the Advocate Aurora and Atrium Health brands will continue to operate in their markets as before. Wake Forest University School of Medicine will serve as the organization's academic core.
"Together, we can do more, be better and go faster," Jim Skogsbergh, president and CEO of Advocate Aurora Health, said. "This combination harnesses our complementary strengths and expertise of our doctors, nurses and teammates to lead health care’s transformation for those we are so proud to serve."
The system will operate with 67 hospitals and more than 1,000 ambulatory locations, and will be supported by 148k teammates, 7.6k employed physicians, 18.5k aligned and medical staff physicians, and 41k nurses.
Woods and Skogsbergh will serve as co-CEOs during the health system's first 18 months. Following that time, Skogsbergh plans to retire, and Woods will become the sole CEO.
Advocate Health will operate with a board of directors made up of an equal number of members from Advocate Aurora and Atrium Health. Edward J. Brown III, who currently serves as chair of Atrium Health's board of directors will lead the new board until December 31, 2023. From there, Michele Richardson, chair of Advocate Aurora Health's board of directors, will succeed him and serve for two years.
Lee Echols shares insights on the Northside Hospital brand, recent successful branding campaigns, and new marketing learnings.
Marketing plays a significant role for Northside Hospital, a nonprofit health system headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The five-hospital health system has focused on a few marketing campaigns in recent years, with a focus on more than just driving consumers to their locations.
Lee Echols, VP of marketing and communications for Northside, led marketing campaigns including "Healers, Helpers, Heroes," "Look to Northside," and "#TalkAboutIt," which were shaped by the impact of the pandemic, but looked deeper into what messaging the community needed at the time.
Echols, who joined the health system in 2014, heads the organization's advertising, marketing, media relations, social and digital media, employee communications, direct marketing, community partnership, and issues management.
In a recent interview with HealthLeaders, Echols shares insights on the Northside brand, recent successful branding campaigns, and new marketing learnings.
Experiencing Northside's Brand
The Northside brand has a strong reputation, Echols said, and several factors play an important role in its marketing strategy.
"We're proud of how the brand has led Northside to have a strong reputation as a healthcare provider in the Atlanta market. Our definition of the Northside brand is a little different: the brand is the total experience that patients, families, and employees in our communities have with Northside Hospital."
He added, "[We don't look at our brand] so much as a physical object or building, but from an experience, an environment of healthcare. I say that because that grounds us in all of our marketing decisions."
The strong competitive market also influences how the organization executes its marketing strategy.
"If you know anything about the Atlanta market, it is growing like wildfire, and will continue to grow for years and years ahead," he said.
According to the Atlanta Regional Commission, Georgia's population increased by 11% in the past decade, with Atlanta growing by 16%.
"We have a metro population of around seven and a half million people now. That's our primary service area, but within that service area we have several strong health systems [that] are our competitors. We're always interested in how our marketing messages resonate, both with our potential patients and with competing healthcare systems."
Another factor, Echols said, is how the health system is connected to its communities, through the schools, neighborhoods, and towns and cities where the local businesses and government leaders are impacted by the presence of the health system. The health system needs to be in tune with the needs of the community to be successful.
The marketing department plays a significant role for the health system, driving more than branding, something that was not always the case in the marketing industry, Echols said.
"The old notion of getting a seat at the table for marketing leaders has been sometimes a struggle. But I'm proud of what we've been able to do at Northside in both securing a seat at the table and helping drive strategic decisions," he said.
Echols wears many hats and is involved not only in marketing, but also in planning, real estate activities, and government relations. "I like being integrated into other areas of Northside because it only helps us do a better job to tell Northside's story. When we know what's going on, when we know what strategic thinking is for growth and development, that makes our job maybe not easier, but certainly more effective," he said.
Marketing During a Pandemic
The pandemic caused healthcare marketing executives to pivot their marketing strategies to focus on the crisis at hand, including Echols.
"I'm often asked 'how do you successfully do marketing during a pandemic?'" he said. "The answer is you have to understand what the pandemic means to your employees, patients, their families, your own family, and commit yourself to focusing on the pandemic as the single biggest issue at that moment."
At the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic hit, the health system was preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary and developed "grand plans to celebrate throughout the year," Echols said. When March 2020 came, it was obvious that the marketing team couldn't move forward with the celebration and brand campaign they titled "Look to Northside."
"Timing completely influenced our decision. It's a beautiful campaign, but we recognized we could not launch this at the height of a pandemic," he said. "So, we turned our attention to developing programs that celebrated our frontline workers."
Along with other hospitals and health system, Northside developed COVID-19 related messaging to share with the community and praise the frontline staff through a campaign called "Healers, Helpers, Heroes."
The pandemic "not only forced us to pause planned marketing activities, but it also gave us the chance to rethink them," Echols said.
#TalkAboutIt
Instead of focusing on business messaging and how to get patients in the door, the health system took another approach with its "#TalkAboutIt" marketing campaign.
During the pandemic, women were disproportionately affected by the crisis, and Northside wanted to create meaningful, public conversations about how the pandemic affected women's health, lifestyles, and family relations.
"#TalkAboutIt was a direct response to COVID. It ran from May through September of 2021, and the campaign was different than anything Northside had ever done in terms of marketing," he said. "The goal of the campaign was not to create business or bring in patients. The goal of the campaign was to create and curate a conversation for women impacted by the pandemic."
The marketing team didn't have expectations for the campaign, but instead "had a feeling that it was the right opportunity from Northside for women to talk about COVID's impact on their physical well-being, their emotional states, their family situations, and their career issues," he said.
There was an instant positive reaction to the campaign from 15 prominent women physicians in the health system who participated and shared their stories. Additionally, nine radio stations in the Atlanta market helped hold conversations on-air and on social media.
The campaign ran from May to September, Echols said, and resulted in the highest levels of social media engagement Northside has ever had. "We worked with a podcast producer to do a three-part series on #TalkAboutIt and had 23,000 downloads in the first month of the campaign," he said.
"If you look at the metrics of #TalkAboutIt, they're overwhelming engagement rates, impressions, and media pick up from traditional media. We partnered with a radio company called Radio One, to do some programming focused specifically on Black women. We also had a Hispanic component, and the campaign just blew our minds with how successful it was."
Look to Northside
Following the peak of the pandemic, Northside is ready to launch its tabled campaign. But it looks a little bit different than it did before the pandemic.
"Coming out of the real hard periods of the pandemic, to where we are now, the timing for our launch seems to make sense," Echols said. "The message of our brand campaign was specifically developed as a reaction to how people are really feeling about healthcare right now."
The "Look to Northside" campaign is special due to several reasons.
"This sounds simple," Echols said, "but having the hospital name in our tagline means a lot because it makes the whole campaign very clear that it's about Northside, and that we want people as a call to action to look to Northside," he said.
"We also know that it's a very progressive message. The idea that not only can people look to Northside you can also look ahead to your own life coming out of COVID. You can look around to all the things that you've missed or did not experience during COVID. You can look forward to a healthier lifestyle. And Northside can help you achieve that."
The campaign is a step away from hospitals, disease, hospitalizations, and restrictions, Echols said. By understanding the consumers' needs, the marketing team took a different approach to create an embracing, warm, and comforting message.
"We've seen just in the first week that the images and the messages are eliciting some real, strong emotional response from our stakeholders, and I think that's a beautiful result. We're very proud of the initial reaction because we think it's what people want to hear and want to see right now when it comes to healthcare marketing."
"Two years ago, when we were initially planning out the brand campaign, it didn't look like this," he added. "We've been listening to the consumers and how they feel about the pandemic and moving beyond. And this campaign, we hope, is sensitive to that thought.
The "Look to Northside" campaign has a focus on digital and broadcast, much like the "#TalkAboutIt" campaign, and the success is measured in a multitude of ways, including social media engagement metrics, website traffic, as well as metrics shared from their media partners.
"The metrics associated with those avenues are strong and easily tracked. What we always want to do is check those metrics on a regular basis and match them up against our own revenue and volume metrics and see how those look," he said. "And while we can never say that a marketing effort fully drives business for any organization, the way we're tracking metrics gives us a pretty good idea of how the campaign will be working."
Echols also looks to another KPI that is just as equally important as data to him: what Northside's people are saying about the campaign.
"What are we hearing from our own employees about the campaign? To me, that's a very important metric," he said. "We want them to be proud of this campaign and see the campaign is another reason for them to be proud of working at Northside. We'll listen to employees and archive their sentiment as well."
Additionally, Echols keeps an eye on the competitors and how they respond.
"I pay attention to what our competitors may or may not be doing in response," he said. "We know this campaign at launch is quite different from what is currently in the Atlanta market. And that's what we wanted to achieve. Will that be a successful strategy? We'll see, but I'm confident that it will be."
The Lesson is in Listening
The health system's marketing takeaways from the pandemic are simple, Echols said.
"You have to pay attention to how people are feeling at any given time. That's the idea of Look to Northside. [Consumers are] not getting a 'hit you over the head' clinical marketing campaign," he said. "Our initial launch doesn't show doctors, or nurses, or operating rooms, or radiology labs. There are just people like us resuming their lives after two years of pain, suffering, and uncertainty."
Moving forward from the pandemic with new marketing campaigns may continue in that direction.
"I think that's going to be the marketing shift going forward out of COVID; an increasing need to understand how people are feeling, and not just through consumer surveys or focus groups. But pay attention to the news, talk to your friends," he said. "To me, that's just as important as an expensive market research study."
Ambulatory healthcare services gained the most jobs in the sector, followed by hospitals, then nursing and residential care facilities.
The healthcare sector is continuing its slow upward trajectory in job growth.
The newest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report found that the sector gained 34,000 jobs during the month of April.
Ambulatory healthcare services saw the most jobs added in the sector, gaining 28,000 jobs during the month. Additionally, hospitals gained about 4,500 jobs, while nursing and residential care facilities only saw an increase of about 2,000 jobs.
Following gains in employment in January (+18,000), February (+64,000), and March (+8,000), employment in the healthcare sector is down approximately 250,000, or 1.5% since pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.
Total nonfarm payroll employment gained 428,000 jobs during the month, "Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing," the report said.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6%, according to the BLS, leaving the number of unemployed persons at 5.9 million. "These measures are little different from their values in February 2020 (3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively), prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," the report said.
The amount of those employed who teleworked went down to 7.7%, down from 10% in March.
The health system was also awarded during the 39th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards.
MaineHealth chief marketing and communications officer, Terri Cannan, was awarded Brand CMO of the Year during the Ad Age Creativity Awards held in New York last week.
Kathleen Hall, corporate VP of Brand at Microsoft was an Ad Age Creative judge, shared praise for the health system's creative work. "MaineHealth did in a regional health center what no major health care provider could do nationally. [The work] was ballsy. It was smart. It was emotional. It was real."
According to a press release from the nonprofit integrated health system, the pandemic caused MaineHealth to shift their communication models, which led to the successful management of communications about the novel virus, which "accurately and empathetically [represented what was happening on the front lines of care," as well as driving vaccination efforts. Due to these efforts the health system, which has nine hospitals across the state and serves as the largest health system in northern New England, had some of the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the country and the highest vaccination rates.
Cannan has served as MaineHealth's chief marketing and communications officer since 2014, where she leads the system's overall marketing strategy, including public relations, communications, and digital. Previously, she served as vice president of marketing and communications for Maine Medical Center, the health system's 637-bed flagship hospital in Portland.
From April 2020 to April 2022, Canaan led the development of more than 15 fully-integrated campaigns, a large step away from the health system's historically one brand campaign executed per year. Messaging from the campaigns covered masking and social distancing, vaccine hesitancy, community support, frontline worker appreciation, and ways to avoid hospital patient surges. Messaging was created by Words From the Woods, a strategic advertising agency in Portland. Each campaign was fully integrated, and planned and executed by Dirigo Collective, an independent media company in Yarmouth.
Additionally, MaineHealth has several advertising campaigns that received high honors during the 39th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, including gold, silver, and merit awards.
Lisa Shannon, the CEO of Allina Health, shares what goals she hopes to achieve in her first year as CEO, leadership transitions for the health system, and the importance of authentic leadership.
Editor's note: This conversation is a transcript from an episode of the HealthLeaders Women in Healthcare Leadership Podcast. Audio of the full interview can be found here.
On January 1, Lisa Shannon, the former COO and president of Allina Health, took the helm and became CEO on the nonprofit health system.
Shannon succeeded Penny Wheeler, MD, who retired and took a position on the board of directors. Prior to retiring, Wheeler and Shannon worked closely to ensure a smooth leadership transition for the workforce, the consumers, and the communities the system serves in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
In the latest HealthLeaders Podcast episode, Shannon shares what goals she hopes to achieve in her first year as CEO, leadership transitions for the health system, and the importance of authentic leadership.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HealthLeaders: What was your experience transitioning from serving as COO to CEO? How are those two roles similar and different at Allina Health?
Lisa Shannon: In many ways, there are quite a few similarities and there are some key differences.
I joined Allina Health almost five years ago for the COO role, which was focused on integrating us into an operating company. Taking all the collective assets, performance, and service lines, and ensuring to our consumers that any door they enter is a part of the same house. It was important that I focus on what the areas are that cause friction, or breaks in seamless care, or other performance gaps through an operational or implementation lens. And we're not done with that work yet; it's a long journey ahead.
In my role as CEO, it's ensuring that that continues with a much more intentional focus on our long-term future: Where are we heading? How are we going to transform this industry?
A friend and mentor told me the role of a CEO is more about leading the team, the role of a COO is more about managing the team or managing the business. The more I can lead the team and lead our strategic future, and delegate to others to actually run the business, I think the more successful I can be in this role.
HL: What goals do you wish to achieve in your first year as CEO? What pain points are you looking to address?
Shannon: I recently passed the 100-day mark and that first quarter I was focused on listening, even though I've been here almost five years. My hope is we build on the great foundation we have and elevate it to a place where our employees and our providers can't imagine working anywhere else.
This pandemic has created a lot of suffering. A lot of lives have been lost. There's a lot of burnout, stress, and mental health challenges. I believe that my most important job is to acknowledge and recognize that we have a weary workforce, and yet a workforce who is dedicated to the mission we have, the communities that we're serving, and the improvement journey. When I think about what we have to do, we have to create an organization and a culture where people believe they are empowered, they can speak up, and they can make things better for those we serve.
I believe in us. I believe we have the right foundation, and this notion that we put in place before the pandemic, is we are going to embark on what we call The Whole Way to Better in the context of our whole person care journey. That's challenging the status quo, making sure the system works for those we serve and for those who serve.
When thinking about my first year in this role, one of the great benefits I have from being internal and succeeding into this role is that I got to help craft our strategic priorities and directions. In addition to our workforce and how important it is that we tend to those who serve, we're on a strategic path to transform healthcare as delivered. That means we are committed to population health: being much more proactive and preventive in the care that we're providing, not only to individuals, but also to communities. We think about population health for a person, and we think about population health in the context of a community. In order to do population health, we have to pivot an economic model, so that our providers and teams understand that the reward is going to come from a value-based context.
A passion will be to ensure that our diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives that are designed to eliminate structural inequities in healthcare are weaved into who we are as an organization, as care providers, as an employer, as a purchaser of goods, and for our communities.
HL: Allina Health recently introduced the Allina Health Foundation, can you share what the health system hopes to accomplish philanthropically?
Shannon: Allina Health has always had a foundation, we've just had many of them. Like many other organizations that came together over a period of years and years, you bring in your facilities, your services, and sometimes that brings a separate philanthropy function or foundation. Those have been kept intact for a number of years. As part of our vision to ensure the system works together to ensure seamlessly connected care for our patients and community, we need to mirror that with our philanthropic experience. Part of this is creating alignment that can impact our patients and community broadly.
For example, we've been focused on mental health and addiction. It's been important for a long time and it's important now. So, rather than have foundations sitting at our site level, we're bringing them together and lifting them up at the system, which gives donors the opportunity to earmark sites of care as they wish, and earmark programs that cut across our community.
Lastly, one of our priorities is our quaternary hospital, Abbott, Northwestern. It has a 140-year history, and we are embarking on a revitalization project that will allow us to serve what is a broad geography. We get patients from a multi-state region, the most complex of all patients are going to be served in that campus environment. By integrating this foundation, we wanted to accomplish both those that have passions for their communities, the opportunity to give input there, and individuals who have passion for broad topics that cut across all parts of our community. They don't have to pick and choose the where, but they can instead invest in the what.
HL: There was a new president appointment at Abbott Northwestern Hospital recently. How has the organization utilized succession planning during these new leadership appointments?
Shannon: Yes. David Joos is now president, following Ann Madden Rice, who recently retired.
Penny Wheeler and I would both say we're very proud of the transition and succession we've accomplished over the last several months for me moving into this role, and her retirement and then return on our board. It's more important than ever for our community and our organization to have a sense of stability and future direction of the organization.
As David has taken the reins at Abbott Northwestern, he's been there for almost five years, he mentored with the outgoing president, Anne, who did wonderful work. He's been part of our campus planning system and that stability is a seamless transition as we are bringing together our system into a much more integrated focus on health improvement and population health.
I've told many people this, I came here to work with Dr. Wheeler and enjoyed a wonderful several years partnering. Up until her very last day, Penny cared most about my success in the role, and I cared most that she was honored for the work she had done for all the years she served here. I hope that was felt and seen by the people we lead that honoring her contributions and her caring about my success showed up in a way that allowed us to have a very seamless transition.
HL: How would you describe your leadership style and how has it evolved?
Shannon: When I think about leadership, and I think about leadership styles, I think about how important it is to show up authentically. And being super clear about what matters, and for me, what matters is I get the privilege to lead. That's quite a gift. That means I have a bit more responsibility to bring voices of those closest to the care or services we provide into the work that we do and the decisions we make. That means I also get to listen deeply to what our community needs from us. From a leader standpoint, I'm absolutely accountable for the strategic direction with an awesome executive team and a board that keeps us anchored at what we're trying to do for our community.
My job is to amplify the strengths of our leaders, and our teams, and empower them in the direction that we're going. We don't want everybody hitting the accelerator going in different directions. But we do want people to say, 'I've got a steering wheel of the vehicle I'm responsible for, and I know what direction I'm heading.'
HL:What advice do you have for women and others who want to authentically serve in leadership roles in healthcare?
Shannon: The most important thing is to get to know yourself and your strengths.
What gives you energy? When you leave at the end of the day, if you're drained and completely exhausted, what was your work? What were you doing that day? And why did you leave so exhausted?
When you leave at the end of the day, energized and ready for what's next, what were you doing then? How are you maximizing your own strengths? Because once you know your strengths, it's not hard to be authentic about them. Once you know your weaknesses, make sure you surround yourself with people who fill in those gaps. Authentic leadership starts with honesty about your own capabilities, and what you love, which is usually attributed to that which gives you energy.
The Henry Ford Health System CEO will join CommonSpirit on August 1.
In an announcement released today, CommonSpirit Health has named retiring CEO Lloyd H. Dean's successor.
Wright L. Lassiter III, the current CEO of Henry Ford Health System and current Board Chair for the American Hospital Association, will succeed Dean on August 1 to lead the nonprofit, Catholic health system.
Dean announced last year his plans to retire in 2022, following a more than two-decades-long leaderhsip tenure.
Lassiter, who has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare, has served as CEO of Henry Ford Health since 2016, where led the system through the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded the organization's footprint, and grew the revenue of the $6.6 billion Detroit-based integrated health system.
During his tenure with Henry Ford, Lassiter accomplished many achievements, including increasing the health system's quality performance and earning top honors in several publicly reported quality programs. Two hospitals also achieved Magnet® status under his lead.
He also helped improve the health system's financial performance, which received outlook and ratings upgrades from Moody's and S&P services.
"Wright’s accomplishments and career focus embody CommonSpirit’s vision of health care as an essential aspect of every person’s life," CommonSpirit board member and incoming board chair, Chris Lowney, said in a statement. "His experience and success with complex health systems positions him well to lead our organization on our mission to deliver better health to all Americans."
Lassiter is also known for championing health equity initiatives and his commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.
"Throughout his career, Wright has demonstrated that he shares our commitment as a Catholic health system to improving the health of those we serve, especially those most in need, and advancing social justice for all people," Sr. Barbara Hagedorn, SC, president of Catholic Health Care Federation, CommonSpirit’s sponsoring body, said in a statement.
In his new role as CommonSpirit CEO, Lassiter will lead the large-scale organization's strategic priorities and the organization's next phase of growth and financial stability. He will also focus on supporting the clinical and nursing staff's health and well-being.
The Henry Ford board of directors, led by chair David Breen, will conduct a national search for Lassiter's successor, the organization announced today. During the transition period, president, health care operations and COO, Bob Riney, will lead the health system and work with Breen and the board during the search process.
In a statement shared with Henry Ford's team members, Lassiter wrote: "It has truly been one of the great honors of my life to lead the incredibly relentless, resilient, innovative, diverse and compassionate team that is Henry Ford Health. It has been said that when you need heroism at scale, when you are faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, when others say 'no,' you come to Henry Ford. I found this to be true – every day. I am incredibly proud of the transformative work we have done together in and across communities in Michigan and far beyond. I have no doubt that the influence and impact of Henry Ford will continue to grow and flourish long after my final day here."
Christopher Gessner shares strategies the organization takes to remain independent while meeting the needs of its pediatric patients and their families.
Akron Children's Hospital is a pediatric acute care hospital headquartered in Akron, Ohio. It's about 40 minutes south of Cleveland, Ohio, and operates as an independent regional pediatric health system, Christopher Gessner, president and CEO of the hospital, told HealthLeaders.
Additionally, the organization has another hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, more than 30 primary care practices, dozens of pediatric specialties, and ongoing partnerships with other health systems and universities in Northeast Ohio. The organization also recently launched an accountable care organization to concentrate on value-based payment arrangements with the Medicaid HMOs in Ohio.
The organization, which has an annual revenue of about $1 billion, looks to partnerships and collaboration to remain successful and independent.
Gessner spoke with HealthLeaders earlier this week about Akron Children's Hospital and shared strategies the organization takes to remain independent while meeting the needs of its pediatric patients and their families. He also shares advice for other independent healthcare organization executives and larger organizations that acquire independent hospitals.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HL: What pain points are you currently experiencing as an independent hospital?
Gessner: We're experiencing labor shortages for our specialties; nursing specialties and respiratory therapy imaging. Those same shortages are impacting us whether we're independent or part of a larger system.
We also are experiencing pressure to provide care at a lower cost point, but still provide high-quality care that's pleasing for patients and families. There is also a lot of pressure to improve access to care.
I don't think the key pain points that we're experiencing are related to being independent; they're just general pain points for the healthcare industry overall.
HL:What benefits do Akron Children's Hospital's workforce, patients, and communities gain from your organization being an independent entity?
Gessner: We're independent and we're solely focused on pediatric healthcare. Our mission is specialized, and we can concentrate all of our time, talent, resources, and effort to meeting the needs of the pediatric and adolescent population in Northeast Ohio. That clarity of mission and objectives helps make decision-making a little easier and it also allows us to move quickly and respond in a timely manner to meet unmet needs.
I'll give you an example. We have behavioral health programs within Akron Children's, and they range from integrated therapists in our primary care practices, to outpatient clinics for therapy and psychiatry, to intensive outpatient programs, group therapy, and then we have an inpatient unit. But with the recent rise in behavioral health issues for teenagers and kids, we've been able to respond quickly and create outpatient centers that are the bridge between clinic visits and inpatient stay. The goal would be to try to keep kids from ever needing an inpatient stay, or if they do need an inpatient stay, to provide the care and structure they need, but allow them to live at home, go to school, and have a normal life. We saw that happen in the marketplace, and we responded quickly, opened a center on our Youngstown campus in Boardman, and now we're planning to open two more centers over the next two years.
In terms of speed to market and ability to quickly meet needs, it's helpful to be independent because we're not vying or competing against other interests within a large system in terms of capital or personnel.
HL: What is the competition like for pediatric organizations in Ohio and what strategies have you implemented to compete in the marketplace?
Gessner: We have healthy competition amongst the children's hospitals in Ohio and we collaborate in terms of advocacy within the state for Medicaid, population health, behavioral health issues, health equity, and minimizing health disparities. We also collaborate on patient safety. But we do compete significantly in our own marketplace.
In Northeast Ohio there is Rainbow Babies, which is part of the University Hospitals health system, and there is Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital essentially right next to each other in Cleveland. We're 40 minutes south of there, so there's some competition for patient volume and activity. About two hours to our southwest is Columbus, which is Nationwide Children's Hospital.
So, when we start to expand our territory, sometimes we end up vying for patients in those peripheral areas outside of Akron.
The strategies that we've focused on are fundamental and basic, and that is to be incredibly accessible and bring care close to families and children. We like to do a lot of outreach with our specialty pediatric services. We usually partner with adult systems to become their pediatric partner and perhaps rent space on their campuses or nearby.
Another key strategy for us is being primary care driven. We have a huge primary care network of pediatricians, and we're establishing those offices and population bases around Northeast Ohio. Those enable us to not just be an episodic provider of care but to stay in touch with families and children throughout the continuum of care and meet their needs.
We've done a lot of vaccinations of children for COVID recently. We've been responding to try to educate parents who are nervous about getting their child vaccinated. We were sort of crossing the line from just healthcare providers to a public health entity for kids as well.
HL: What other organizations do you have partnerships with?
Gessner: Part of the success of being independent is you must be collaborative. You need to partner and work with agencies in the community, as well as other healthcare providers.
We partner with Mercy Health System, which has a lot of presence in Northeast Ohio. We cover their neonatal intensive care units and their delivery rooms. We have primary care pediatric offices on their campus. Sometimes, we staff their emergency department with pediatric specialists. We have telehealth connections to those places.
We partner with Aultman Hospital, which is a community health system in Canton, Ohio. We partner with the Summa Health System Akron Campus and have similar relationships where we provide maternal-fetal medicine physicians on their campus, we staff their NICU, we support their delivery room.
We have a great relationship with Cleveland Clinic. Even though we compete with Cleveland Clinic, we work together on our congenital heart surgical program. The surgeons work at both places, and depending on where the child lives and the acuity levels, we will direct that child to the appropriate site, whether that's Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital or Akron Children's Hospital.
We also have university partners. Northeast Ohio Medical School is a huge partner. The vast majority of their medical student rotations occur at Akron Children's. We have partnerships with the University of Akron, Youngstown State, and Kent State University. Most of their nursing schools have rotations here, and we're fortunate to have great nursing schools in Northeast Ohio that need pediatric experience so they come to our hospitals and offices for that practicum.
We also have a good relationship with Stark State College, which is a community college. We provide scholarships to certain students in certain tracks, such as medical assistants, radiology techs, and lab techs, and we'll also cover expenses to help remove barriers for them coming to school, such as childcare and transportation. That's been incredibly successful for us.
We partner well, it's a competency of Akron Children's, and it's important for us to be able to be a good collaborator for us to stay independent.
HL: What messages do you have for other CEOs who lead independent healthcare organizations?
Gessner: Be a good collaborator. Understand your partner, meet with them on a regular basis, have rich conversations, try to understand what the synergistic opportunities are between your organizations. Be humble, listen, learn from them, and try to help them achieve their mission while achieving your mission.
The other thing is, you can't shy away from difficult decisions and think that by becoming part of a larger system those problems are going to go away. They are not. Hard problems, in terms of reducing costs and proving quality, they're there whether you're part of a big system or independent. You have to make those decisions and have the managerial courage to deal with those in an independent situation or as part of a large system.
HL: Do you have any messages for larger health systems and organizations that acquire independent healthcare organizations?
Gessner: I've spent a lot of time working at large health systems, so I do have some thoughts.
1. Stay in tune with the local community needs of the organization that's joining your system. Make sure you understand that mission and the local community. Make a real effort to meet unmet needs in that community.
2. Maintain a relatively lean corporate structure. Don't burden community hospitals and other hospitals that are part of your system with heavy corporate overhead. Make sure that the corporate costs that you allocate to them are competitive and market-based.
3. Make sure you still interface with caregivers; physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and therapists that are taking care of patients. They bring a whole different perspective to your conversations about allocating budgets, whether they're capital budgets or operating budgets, investment decisions about new programs. You need to stay connected with frontline caregivers and staff, so you've got to get out of your corporate office and travel to where the care is delivered.
HL: Do you have any final thoughts that you'd like to add?
Gessner: It's wonderful to be part of an independent hospital. What I enjoy is my relationship with the board of directors. I report directly to a community board that oversees our hospital, and they're some of the most dedicated, talented people I know. And I learn a lot from them.
Another key to being independent is having an outstanding committed board that is representative of the community and its diverse needs, and building, maintaining, and educating that board about the challenges in the healthcare industry is a big part of the CEO's job in an independent hospital.
The updates follow the recent termination of Tony Slonim, MD, as CEO of the Reno, Nevada-based health system.
Renown Health recently announced multiple leadership changes for the health system and its flagship hospital, Renown Regional Medical Center.
In an internal memo and press release sent to the media on Friday, the health system stated that the nonprofit health system "take[s] pride in supporting all employees who seek opportunities to advance their careers within the health system and are thrilled for the leaders who have accepted promotions for new roles. Additionally, we are excited to welcome several new leaders who will help us continue to pursue Renown's mission, vision, and values every day."
Renown Regional Medical Center
Part of the leadership changes includes the top leadership positions of the medical center. The Reno, Nevada-based Renown Regional Medical Center will get a new CEO and COO starting July 1.
The current CEO, Erik Olson, will be resigning from his position to work for Reno Orthopedic Clinic.
Chris Nicholas, MA, FACHE, has been promoted and will succeed Olson to serve as CEO. According to his LinkedIn profile, Nicholas previously served as vice president and administrator for Renown South Meadows Medical Center and Neuroscience Institute. He's currently serving as associate CEO during the transition period.
Amy McCombs, MSN, RN, CNML, CIC, has been promoted to serve as COO. She currently serves as vice president of quality, acute care.
Renown Health
Additionally, the nonprofit health system, which serves northern Nevada, announced retirements, and promotions, and welcomed new members to the executive team.
Larry Creech, who serves as surgical services administrator, is retiring from his position effective September 2.
Seth Langevin, who currently serves as senior administrator for post-acute services, will serve as vice president administrator—neurosciences effective May 18.
Jamie Winter, who currently serves as interim chief corporate compliance officer and privacy officer, has been promoted to serve as the health system's deputy chief legal officer effective June 1.
Additionally, Mark Neu will be joining the health system as chief corporate compliance officer on June 13. Samuel Obilie-Mante will be joining the health system to serve as vice president administrator—cardiovascular services on June 27.
These leadership announcements follow the recent termination of Tony Slonim, MD, as CEO of the health system. The Renown Health board of directors completed a thorough investigation of concerns that were raised about Slonim, which led the board to terminate him with cause.
Thomas R. Graf, MD, FAAFP, is now serving as interim CEO in addition to his role as chief clinical and quality officer of the health system, and senior associate dean for clinical affairs for the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.
Sy Johnson, MBA, was promoted to interim president, which he will serve in addition to his role as COO of the health system.
According to the press release, Graf and Johnson will work in collaboration to lead the health system's strategic and operational goals.