Lifespan CEO Tells Medical Staff of Major Reorg, President of RI Hospital Is Out
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Lifespan CEO Tells Medical Staff of Major Reorg, President of RI Hospital Is Out
Major changes at Lifespan PHOTO: FileLifespan’s New CEO announced a major reorganization of the medical functions at Rhode Island’s largest hospital group.
John Fernandez, who took over for Dr. Tim Babineau in 2022, sent an email to the medical staff on Wednesday announcing, in some cases, major changes to how the hospital group functions.
Among the major changes is that “Saul Weingart, MD, PhD, President, Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, will be leaving Lifespan, effective immediately.”
Weingart was named to the position just over two years ago, in February of 2021.
Other major changes include that The Miriam Hospital head will no longer report to the CEO of Lifespan but will now report to Rhode Island Hospital head— a significant change. The Miriam has generally been autonomous of Rhode Island Hospital’s management.
Subject: A message from John Fernandez, Lifespan President & CEO: Changes to Leadership Structure
***Sent on behalf of John Fernandez, Lifespan President and CEO***
Changes to Lifespan Leadership Structure
New Lifespan CEO Fernandez makes major changesApril 12, 2023
Dear Lifespan Team Members,
The healthcare of 10, 20, 30 years from now is going to look much different than it does today. This means different ways of structuring, delivering, and supporting (i.e., funding) patient care. Our organization needs to evolve to adapt to the changing and challenging healthcare landscape in front of us. To that end, we will be implementing several organizational changes that will help us to better serve our patients and position us for future success.
After a thorough review and assessment of the current leadership structure, we will be restructuring our senior leadership team. Our goal is to create a senior management structure across Lifespan that will establish clearly defined roles to empower accountability and swift and agile decision-making that aligns with system-wide priorities. This will help enhance staff and physician engagement and further integrate physicians into the decision-making process across the system to better serve our patients.
The changes include:
Chief Physician Officer – This position will report to me and will be responsible for department chiefs’ work, all ambulatory care areas, and will take responsibility for medical groups and the medical staff office. We will conduct a national search for this position and in the interim these areas will report to me.
Chief of Hospital Operations and President of Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s Hospital — This position will combine two roles and report to me. This position will oversee the presidents of The Miriam, Newport, and Bradley/Gateway, and the vice president of quality and safety. This position will also serve as president of RIH/HCH. We will conduct a national search for this position and in the interim the hospital presidents, RIH leadership, and the vice president for quality and safety will report to me.
Executive Vice President, Ambulatory (includes clinical and urgent care) – This position will report to the chief physician officer when that position is appointed and will be responsible for ambulatory clinical services, population health and primary/urgent care. We will conduct a national search for this position and in the interim the position will report to me.
Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff – This position will report directly to me and will have responsibility for marketing and communications, government relations, development, and other externally facing activities. We will conduct a national search for the position and in the interim, existing reporting relationships will continue.
In conjunction with the new structure:
Steven Lampert, MD, President, Lifespan Physician Group, will be retiring at the end of April 2023. Steve has led the largest multispecialty practice in Rhode Island through the pandemic, including the pivot to telehealth, and is the architect for Lifespan’s Urgent Care centers, opening the first Lifespan Urgent Care facility in 2019 in Warwick and adding Providence, Middletown and Johnston in subsequent years.
Dr. Weingart is out as head of RI Hospital and HasbroSaul Weingart, MD, PhD, President, Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, will be leaving Lifespan, effective immediately. Saul has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, leading the state’s largest hospital through a historically challenging time in healthcare; acting as a strong advocate for advancing quality and safety at Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals; and working to enhance staff engagement and patient experience.
We want to thank both valued leaders for their many contributions and impactful work on behalf of our patients and the community and wish them all the best in the future.
We understand change can be challenging and we will be working hard to create a smooth transition. We are confident that this new leadership structure will better position our organization so we can continue to improve on the work of delivering exceptional patient care and experience.
We look forward to your continued contributions and support as we move forward. We will be meeting with department chairs, vice presidents, directors, and managers over the coming weeks to further explain the changes and interim plans and provide individuals an opportunity to ask questions.
Thank you for all you do to care for our patients.
Kind regards,
John Fernandez
President and Chief Executive Officer
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