Peter McCanna named president of Baylor Scott & White in a new leadership position

Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health has created a new leadership position to be filled by Peter McCanna, the organization announced Monday.

McCanna will assume his role as president in mid-September, taking on some responsibilities of Baylor Scott & White CEO James Hinton. In reverting to a co-leadership model intact put in place just after the organization's 2013 merger, the new leadership position will help the 48-hospital system streamline communication across the continuum and become more nimble, Hinton said.

"We want to operate to ensure that there is a lot of communication and collaboration not just between Pete and I, but throughout other senior leaders in the organization," he added.

McCanna has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare management, most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago. During his 15-year tenure at Northwestern, McCanna helped grow its operating revenue from $700 million to more than $5 billion. He was the chief financial officer of Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico and the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver prior to joining Northwestern.

McCanna has a master's degree from the University of Texas and a bachelor's from the University of Michigan.

"The (Baylor Scott & White) system is well-positioned to become one of the top integrated delivery networks in the country," McCanna said in a statement.

The organization was formed in 2013 when Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare combined. With total assets of $10.8 billion, it is the largest not-for-profit health system in Texas, and has been growing steadily over the past several years.

Amid a period of unprecedented change and uncertainty in healthcare, Baylor Scott & White must ensure its current footprint is operating efficiently and effectively while growing when and where it's appropriate, Hinton said.

"There is the increasing realization that the cost of healthcare is beyond what most people and payers can afford," he said. "As providers, we have to lower costs while making services more accessible and higher quality, and there is mounting pressure to think differently about how care is delivered."