Who: John Fox
New role: President and CEO of eight-hospital Beaumont Health, Troy, Mich. Fox currently is president and CEO of Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare. In March, he will replace Gene Michalski, who has been CEO of the organization since the former Beaumont Health System merged with two local systems in June 2014. He served for more than 39 years in various roles at Beaumont.
Managing post merger: “One of my jobs is to learn about (the merged systems) and be thoughtful and disciplined in how we make changes. But we have to be deliberate. It is a single system now, certainly in the legal structure and in governance, and now we have to make it operate as one, and that's the work ahead.” It's unclear whether former brands will be retained, but all hospitals will have a “branding common denominator,” Fox said.
Shifting to population health: “Part of it is going to be making sure you have the infrastructure to manage in that domain, what I call performance-based contracting. That involves working with physicians—which is critical—and hospitals, and working with payer partners.”
Joining as an outsider: “I think one thing I bring is I'm not connected with any of the founding systems. I value them all and I don't have a bias, per se, so hopefully that'll be helpful to everyone going forward.”