Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health System has named UCLA Health System President David Feinberg, MD, as its sixth president and CEO.
Dr. Feinberg, 53, will replace Geisinger's longtime CEO Glenn Steele, MD, PhD. Dr. Steele has led the system since 2001 and plans to step down from his role in June 2015. He will then continue to work as chairman of Columbia, Md.-based xG Health Solutions. 
Dr. Feinberg, a psychiatrist, has led five-hospital UCLA since 2007. His leadership style is marked by his focus on patient satisfaction, and he has said visiting patients in the hospital is his favorite part of the job. When Dr. Feinberg began work at UCLA, patient satisfaction scores were in the 38th percentile for a number of quality-related questions. Dr. Feinberg says the system now ranks in the 99th percentile for a number of measures. Dr. Feinberg's philosophy and track record caught the attention of Geisinger's board.
"You may call it innovation, but I really see it as a way of getting back to basics," Dr. Feinberg said on a press call. He also stressed the need for consistency across a system, even down to how staff answers patients' phone calls.
Dr. Feinberg said he is eager to arrive in Pennsylvania and learn more from Geisinger. "I've been studying this organization for about five or six years. Geisinger is so important in American medicine today because it has a history of really pushing the envelope around innovation," he said.