Piedmont Healthcare’s board of directors named Kevin Brown its new President and Chief Executive Officer.
Brown heads the largest nonprofit healthcare provider in the Seattle area and will take over Piedmont as it gears up to enter the insurance business.
Since last year, Brown has worked as CEO of Swedish Health Services in Seattle after serving as the hospital’s chief strategic officer. Prior to his employment there, he worked for Providence Health System. Starting in May, Brown will take the helm of Piedmont Healthcare.
“My hope is to help to transform the growth that the organization hopes to achieve and to continue the successful legacy that the organization has had for the last 100 years.”
Brown joins the healthcare system at time when hospitals across the nation are facing increasing competition and making sweeping changes as result of the Affordable Care Act and economic conditions. He says some of his biggest goals are to reduce cost while also improving access for those who need care.
“We have to figure out how to dramatically reduce the cost of care and that’s going to require the system aspect in regards to thinking about coordinated care, looking at technology and other aspects for those seeking care and to again deliver a different product.”
Brown takes the helm of the Piedmont Healthcare just before the healthcare system is scheduled to enter the insurance business with WellStar Health System. Piedmont and WellStar plan to begin offering Medicare Advantage and coverage for their employees next year and consumer plans by 2015.
Brown himself is familiar with the insurance business because in the 1990s he was part of a start-up management team for a for-profit HMO in Washington State.
He says providing insurance will help Piedmont be more innovative in the care models it can offer, which will ultimately help the healthcare system reduce the cost of care.
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