Who: James Hereford
New role: President and CEO of Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis, effective Dec. 12. He succeeds David Murphy, the system's chairman, who has served as interim CEO. Fairview has been operating without a permanent CEO for more than 19 months since Rulon Stacey resigned in February 2015 after just 15 months on the job.
Background: Hereford is COO of Stanford Health Care, an academic medical center in the San Francisco Bay area. He played an “instrumental” role in the growth of Stanford's ACO and provider network strategies. Before joining Stanford in January 2013, Hereford was COO of the Palo Alto (Calif.) Medical Foundation, an affiliate of Sutter Health.
Future path for Fairview: The system put a hold on its proposed acquisition of insurer UCare until a permanent CEO was hired. It announced plans to buy the insurer in April and has since invested heavily in its own insurance business. Fairview reported stable financials in the first half of 2016, with income of $75 million on revenue of $2.14 billion, or a 3.5% margin, compared with income of $64 million on $1.86 billion in revenue, or a 3.4% margin, in the year-ago period. “As one of the most comprehensive, integrated health systems ... with strong academic and community partners, Fairview is well positioned for the future,” Hereford said in a news release.
