Hospital operator HCA, Inc., has announced an immediate internal reorganization that includes the promotion of the company’s chief financial officer to president.
R. Milton Johnson retains his title and responsibilities as CFO, in addition to gaining the HCA president’s chair. A 30-year veteran of the Nashville-based hospital firm, he has held numerous leadership positions in the company and was elected to HCA’s board of directors in 2009.
“Milton has long been an integral member of HCA’s management team,” said Richard Bracken, HCA’s chairman and CEO. “His appointment as president is a reflection of the leadership role he plays in our organization.”
HCA is the nation’s largest non-governmental hospital operator, with 164 hospitals and 106 surgery centers in 20 states and Great Britain.
[Moody's Investors Service raised the ratings outlook for HCA last fall; but some California HCA employees were not pleased with the firm's labor practices]
Bracken said the internal reorganization was intended to better position HCA to take advantage of “emerging changes” in the U.S. healthcare system.
He said the reorganization plan includes the creation of a new subsidiary that will provide business services to other healthcare companies, a new structuring of provider operations and a further integration of clinical quality performance with physician practice services.
As part of the reorganization, Beverly Wallace, who reports to Johnson and most recently was president of HCA’s Shared Services Group, becomes president of a new wholly-owned subsidiary, which is anticipated to provide revenue cycle, staffing services and supply chain management to other healthcare providers.
The company’s Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Perlin, MD, will expand his role to include responsibility for HCA-affiliated physician practices, Bracken said. Perlin’s new title is president of HCA’s Clinical and Physician Services Group.
HCA officials say they hope the new alignment will better integrate physician practices with the organization’s overall clinical and quality operations.
The reorganization also includes the promotion of Sam Hazen to the new position of president of operations, which reports to Bracken. In this role, he oversees the operations of the company’s hospitals and surgery centers, domestically and in the U.K. Hazen’s previous position, which he had held since 2001, was president of HCA’s Western Group, where he had responsibility for 63 hospitals in nine states.
HCA’s four operational group presidents now report to Hazen.