Who: Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright, 46
New role: President and CEO at the Englewood, Colo.-based Medical Group Management Association. She starts March 23 and replaces Dr. Susan Turney, who left last summer to become CEO of the Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic system.
Previous role: Her title was chief medical officer at Centura Health's St. Anthony North Hospital in Denver, but Fischer-Wright said she was hired to be a change agent. Her task was to transform the traditional inpatient focus at the 44-year-old hospital and move toward a wellness and outpatient healthcare “neighborhood” approach at the system's new St. Anthony North Health Campus, opening March 3.
Kid stuff: Fischer-Wright is a pediatrician. “When you work with kids, you get this spirit that anything is possible,” she said. “Skills you learn dealing with families in times of crisis parallel those needed to be an organization change agent.”
By the book: Fischer-Wright co-wrote the book Tribal Leadership while working as a management consultant. She said medical practices have their own inner cultures with physician, administrator, back-office and front-office tribes. Successful organizations have “cross pollination” between groups, while struggling organizations remain committed to operating in silos with separate camps, she said.