Ascension Medical Group has hired a family medicine physician interested in lowering the cost of care as its new president.
Dr. Thomas Graf will start in the role on April 15. He comes to Ascension from Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, where he serves as chief medical officer and vice president of healthcare transformation.
Ascension wrote in a release Wednesday that while at Horizon, Graf created a virtually integrated delivery network for 3.8 million commercial, Medicare Advantage and managed Medicaid members in New Jersey. He has extensive experience in population health and has been involved in payment model evolution since 2005.
Graf spent over a decade at Geisinger and has practiced in clinically integrated networks and accountable care organizations. He was a founding board member of the National Association of ACOs. He also did consulting for The Chartis Group, where he worked with academic medical centers.
"Dr. Graf's experience in creating clinically integrated networks and ACOs will be extremely valuable as Ascension Medical Group continues its work advancing personalized care models to best serve our patients," Dr. Joseph Cacchione, CEO of Ascension Medical Group. "We are pleased to have someone with such depth join our team."
Cacchione was named president of Ascension Medical Group in March 2017, but was promoted to CEO last year when he became a ministry market executive for Ascension Michigan.
Graf will help with the organizational redesign of Ascension Medical Group, Ascension Care Management and other areas within the health system. He earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and completed his family practice residency at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the great progress that AMG is making in becoming the best place to practice medicine and to receive care," Graf said in a statement. "There is so much opportunity for AMG as it continues its evolution as a high-performing national medical group, and I am excited to join this journey of transformation."
