Banner Health is consolidating some executive ranks to give managers greater visibility over the entire continuum of care in their respective regions.
Banner spokesman Bill Byron said Friday that Banner's east and west Arizona regions has been consolidated into one unit with east President Todd Werner taking over the entire territory and western President Rob Gould leaving the system.
Banner also decided to make Debbie Flores head of both Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center and Banner Boswell Medical Center after Dave Cheney left Banner Boswell last month to become CEO of Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif.
Flores, who was CEO of Banner Del E. Webb, had been interim CEO of Banner Boswell before the position was recently consolidated.
News of the reorganization was published Thursday in the Phoenix Business Journal.
Phoenix-based Banner, which operates 28 hospitals, has used acquisitions to grow. Consequently, it is moving its management model away from a hospital-centric philosophy to one that focuses on ensuring that patients can be seen in the appropriate clinical setting at the right time, Byron said.
He said the system was looking to operate “in a more integrated fashion.”
Some additional reorganization is expected to take place over the next six to eight weeks, Byron said.
Some additional positions might be combined and others created to enhance the customer experience, he said. He declined to speculate on how many.
A year ago, Banner took over operations of the University of Arizona Health Network in Tucson, adding two hospital campuses, a faculty practice and three health plans. The deal included about $1 billion in funding and capital commitments.
This summer, Banner also acquired 44-bed Payson (Ariz.) Regional Medical Center. It paid $40 million to the Mogollon Health Alliance to purchase the medical center's land and buildings, and another $11.4 million to acquire the assets of the hospital, physician clinics and home health agency from Community Health Systems.
Last month, Banner sought to round out home care in the Tucson market by signing a letter of intent to purchase SunLife Home Health. The home health agency has been in Tucson since 2010.
