Friday, February 26, 2010
Leadership changes part of Carilion's conversion
As it develops the infrastructure for its new clinic model, Carilion is reorganizing management of hospitals and doctors.
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Carilion Clinic has restructured its upper-level management as the region's largest health care provider continues its evolution into an integrated clinic.
The majority of the changes are related to a deliberate effort to improve the leadership of the system as Carilion continues to add more doctors to its employed staff, said Nancy Agee, Carilion's chief operating officer.
The moves come three years after Carilion announced it would convert from a traditional hospital system to an integrated clinic model similar to Mayo Clinic. The first few years have been devoted to developing the infrastructure for the new clinic.
"Now we need to do the second phase -- likely over the next five years -- of furthering the support and leadership for the clinic so we can have seamless continuity of care from outpatient to inpatient," Agee said. "Our intent is to deepen the values we have in a very deliberate way to further the clinic."
The restructuring was implemented in January with the approval of Carilion's board of directors, she said.
"During this time, we will further develop a multi-specialty, integrated physician group with hospital and ancillary services that assure the right care for the right patient at the right time, every time," said Carilion CEO Dr. Ed Murphy in an e-mail to Carilion staff about the recent leadership changes.
Agee is among the people taking on a new role at Carilion. While she will maintain her current position, Agee also will be the president of the newly created hospital division.
Previously Agee had some oversight of Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, but other hospitals within the system fell under a different structure.
Dr. Mark Werner, Carilion's chief medical officer, is also taking on a second leadership title as president of Carilion Clinic Physicians. This is also a new group, combined from two existing divisions: the primary care physician group and the specialty physician group.
Besides reorganizing who oversees the hospitals and physicians, Carilion has also made multiple changes to its finance department structure. The newly formed physician group and hospital division were each given a vice president of finance. Don Halliwill, former CEO of New River Valley Medical Center, was appointed to that position for the hospital division and Donna Littlepage was given the role for the physicians group.
A few changes, however, are related to natural attrition and individual career moves. Those include the resignations of Dr. Tony Slonim, vice president of medical affairs, and Dr. Steve ReMine, chairman of the department of surgery.
Slonim is returning to his home in Maryland as the chief medical officer for Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. He said he will continue to work with Carilion part time on issues dealing with improving the quality of patient care.
"Tony is a force of nature and our quality processes have flourished under his leadership," Murphy wrote in the e-mail. "His commitment to clinical excellence and teamwork is unparalleled. We will miss Tony and wish him every success in his new venture."
ReMine stepped down as of Jan. 1. He, too, is continuing to work at Carilion in other ways. A national search for his replacement was launched this week, Agee said.
The transformation at Carilion has continued to draw criticism, but Murphy made a point that with these changes he and other management are continuing to address concerns among the medical community.
"Even many of those who were initially uncertain about our vision have dampened their concerns and are finding common understandings with us," Murphy wrote. "The values of better health, better care and lower costs are resonating. Renewed discussions and better relationships with some physicians who were concerned about our changes are taking place."
