Jack Weiner, the colorful and outspoken CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Oakland hospital in Pontiac, Mich., has announced his intention to retire next June 30. A search is underway for his successor.
For 12 years, Weiner has guided St. Joseph Mercy Oakland through turbulent economic times and the recent opening of a $300 million campus improvement project and a high-tech patient tower.
“Jack has been a real innovator when it comes to implementing the latest health care technology that improves the patient experience,” Rob Casalou, CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Health System, said in a statement.
“St. Joseph Mercy Oakland has been an incubator for many of the pilot programs that we've implemented across our health system. We thank Jack for his tireless dedication and longstanding service to our communities and ministry in Oakland County.”
Weiner, 67, has been outspoken in his opposition McLaren Healthcare Corp.'s desire to build a $300 million hospital in Independence Township, about 16 miles from Pontiac. The state refused McLaren's certificate of need request and the 11-hospital system has decided to build a 50-bed short stay hospital.
He also has advocated strongly for improvements in hospital patient safety through technology.
In 2005, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland established the first Michigan Stroke Network, using robots to connect stroke patients with specialists across the state, which earned national distinction for stroke care from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.
This year, St. Joe won the American Health and Hospital Association's “2015 Most Wired Innovator” award and the Medical Main Street's 2015 Innovator of the Year.
Weiner was CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Macomb, where he led the launch of an open-heart surgery program and $30 million expansion. He also was an executive at St. Mary's Health Care, Grand Rapids, and CEO of Northeastern Hospital in Philadelphia.
Weiner began his administrative career as an administrative resident at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn. He received a degree in clinical pharmacy in 1974 from Wayne State University.
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland is part of St. Joseph Mercy Health System in Ann Arbor, a five-hospital system that is part of Livonia-based Trinity Health.
"St. Joseph Mercy Oakland CEO Jack Weiner to retire after 40 years in health care" originally appeared on the website of Crain's Detroit Business.
