Becker's Hospital Review is pleased to name 30 CXOs to know in 2018. The chief experience officers featured here are responsible for transforming the healthcare delivery experience for patients, physicians and staff members.
The editorial team accepted nominations and conducted internal research to develop this list, which appears in alphabetical order. Individuals and institutions did not pay for inclusion on this list.
Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments on this list.
Lisa Allen, PhD. Chief Patient Experience Officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore). Dr. Lisa Allen became Johns Hopkins Medicine's first chief patient experience officer in 2014. Dr. Allen previously served as system vice president for quality, patient experience and patient safety at Steward Health Care System in Boston, where she successfully implemented a patient-centered care initiative to improve HCAHPS scores. Dr. Allen earned her doctorate in medical anthropology and community medicine from the University of Connecticut in Mansfield.
Adrienne Boissy, MD. Chief Patient Experience Officer of Cleveland Clinic Health System. In addition to leading Cleveland Clinic's patient experience department, Dr. Boissy serves as a staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis with a secondary appointment in the Clinic's Center for Ethics, Humanities and Spiritual Care. As a Harvard Macy scholar, she has focused her career on improving patient-physician communication; Dr. Boissy guided a comprehensive program to strengthen physician communication skills and implement patient advisory councils across Cleveland Clinic. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Journal of Patient Experience.
Jonathan Bothell, MSN, RN. Director of Office of the Patient Experience, University of Iowa Health Care (Iowa City). Mr. Bothell became director of the Office of the Patient Experience in February 2017 after five years with UI Health Care. He previously served as a staff nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit and a quality and operational improvement engineer in the Office of Clinical Quality, Safety and Performance Improvement. Mr. Bothell played a key role in UI Health Care's recent partnership with American Academy on Communication in Healthcare to present a speaker series about patient safety and experience.
Laurie Brown, RN. Chief Experience Officer of CHI Franciscan Health (Tacoma, Wash.). Ms. Brown transitioned from CHI Franciscan's chief nursing officer to chief experience officer in March 2017. Her 30-plus years in healthcare include positions such as regional director of care management at CHI Franciscan and interim president of the system's St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Wash. Since 2005, Ms. Brown has taught in the Nursing and Healthcare Leadership program at University of Washington-Tacoma School of Nursing, where she earned her master's degree in nursing. Ms. Brown is an active member in the Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives and the American Organization of Nurse executives.
Susan Coe. Senior Vice President, Chief Experience Officer of University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (Chestertown). Susan Coe has extensive executive experience in healthcare and human resources. Ms. Coe previously served as chief human resources officer of process innovation and organization development with the American Nurses Association. Other leadership positions include vice president of human resources at Bravo Health and director of human resources for the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Seton Medical Group, all in Baltimore. Ms. Coe received the Human Resources Leadership Award for HR Innovation from the Human Resources Leadership Association of Greater Washington in 2012.
Shannon Connor Phillips, MD. Chief Patient Safety and Experience Officer of Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City). As a pediatrician, Dr. Philips joined Cleveland Clinic in 2004 to develop and lead a pediatric hospitalist program. She went on to serve as the Clinic's first chief patient safety officer before joining Intermountain Healthcare in 2017. Dr. Phillips works to transform clinical quality and safety outside the hospital setting as well; she currently serves on the National Quality Forum Expert Panel on Common Formats, a group focused on developing a national standard and repository for patient safety events.
Nancy Corcoran-Davidoff. Chief Experience Officer and Executive Vice President of Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health. Ms. Corcoran-Davidoff's 25-plus years of healthcare leadership have included a variety of patient experience-related roles at Hackensack Meridian, including director of consumer affairs, vice president of operations and vice president of service quality. She is currently responsible for the strategic leadership, design, implementation and monitoring of programs and initiatives focusing on patient-centered care. Planetree presented Ms. Corcoran-Davidoff with the Sprit of Caring award in recognition of her personal approach to patient care.
Rick Evans. Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City). Mr. Evans leads NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's efforts to enhance patient experience across the continuum of care. He helped develop and implement the We Put Patients First initiative in 2011 to increase patient satisfaction scores. Previously, Mr. Evans served as chief experience officer for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and its physician organization, overseeing patient experience in addition to physician leadership programs, visitor education programs and the referral management office.
Sven Gierlinger. Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of Northwell Health (Great Neck, N.Y.). Mr. Gierlinger draws from his experience in hospitality and the luxury hotel business to help hospitals deliver exceptional customer service. Mr. Gierlinger joined Henry Ford Health System in Detroit in 2008, eventually serving as vice president of hospitality and service culture. Today, Mr. Gierlinger leads patient experience initiatives across Northwell Health's 21 hospitals. Under his guidance, the system is undergoing a "first impression initiative" in which hospital lobbies are being redesigned to enhance hospitality.
Rose Glenn. Senior Vice President of Communications and Chief Experience Officer for Henry Ford Health System (Detroit). Rose Glenn joined Henry Ford in 2001, using her 30-plus years of experience in strategic public relations and marketing to spearhead the health system's web strategy, communications and cultural transformation initiatives. As a result, Ms. Glenn played a key role in the team that helped the health system achieve the 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Ms. Glenn is on the board of the American Hospital Association's Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development and is a graduate of Leadership Detroit.
Matt Gove. Chief Consumer Officer of Piedmont Healthcare (Atlanta). As chief consumer officer at Piedmont Healthcare, Mr. Gove oversees marketing, communications, patient experience, community benefit and government relations for the eight-hospital system. Under Mr. Gove's leadership, Piedmont has won more than a dozen local and national marketing awards since 2013, and he has been individually recognized as American Business Awards' Marketing Executive of the Year. Prior to joining Piedmont, Mr. Gove was a core member of the executive team that raised more than $300 million for capital improvements at Grady Health System in Atlanta.
Keith Gran. Chief Patient Experience Officer of University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor). Mr. Gran has worked in clinical department management, large academic physician group management, revenue cycle operations, contracting systems and many other aspects of the integrated delivery network. He draws on his experiences in these disparate areas to devise strategy that increases value for patients, physicians and researchers in the academic community. Prior to joining UMHS in 2015, he served as COO for University of Miami Medical Group as well as CEO of the University of Southern California Care Medical Group in Los Angeles.
Pam Guler. Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of Adventist Health System (Altamonte Springs, Fla.). Ms. Guler has more than 25 years of healthcare and business experience and has served in progressive healthcare roles focused on patient experience and engagement, physician engagement, performance improvement and service line development. In addition to her current position, she serves on the executive board of The Beryl Institute, co-chairs the Premier/QUEST Patient and Family Engagement Workgroup and is a member of the executive council for the Press Ganey Institute for Innovation.
Kevin Gwin. Chief Patient Experience Officer of University of Missouri Health Care (Columbia). Though the chief patient experience officer position is new to MU Health Care, Mr. Gwin is anything but new to improving patient experience. He joined the system in May 2017 after a career leading culture transformation at healthcare systems across the country, including Ardent Health Services in Nashville, Tenn., and St. Mary's Health System in Knoxville, Tenn. Mr. Gwin lectures nationally on cultural transformation and is known for guiding Ardent's consumer-facing and social media strategy.
Michelle Keating-Burton, MSN, RN. Area Director and Patient Experience Officer of St. Joseph Health (Sonoma County, Calif.). Michelle Keating-Burton was appointed area director and patient experience officer of St. Joseph Health in August 2016, before which she served as a nurse manager and clinical nurse leader at the organization for two years. Ms. Burton is responsible for numerous patient experience initiatives both locally and across the system. She has helped to create educational content and facilitated 96 training workshops for more than 1,500 St. Joseph employees.
Joan Kelly. Chief Patient Experience Officer of NYU Langone Health System (New York City). Before joining NYU Langone Health System, Ms. Kelly led consumer experience, well-being and innovation for Humana. As a seasoned leader in implementing patient-centered care, Ms. Kelly has worked to advance innovation across multiple organizations and industries, including Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston, Harvard University in Boston, NASA and the Department of Defense. She is the architect of NYU Langone's guiding vision: "Perfect Experience. Every Patient. Every Time."
Julie Kennedy Oehlert, PhD, RN, BSN. Chief Experience Officer of Vidant Health (Greenville, N.C.). Dr. Julie Kennedy Oehlert earned her doctorate in health innovation and leadership from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and has coached two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients: North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo and Sharp Healthcare in San Diego. She also led the study "The Effects of Emergency Department Staff Rounding on Patient Safety and Satisfaction," which at one point was the sixth most-requested article for download from the Journal of Emergency Medicine's website. Today, she leads Vidant Health's patient experience, team member experience and environmental experience departments.
Lyn Ketelsen, RN. Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer of HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Ketelsen became HCA Healthcare's first patient experience officer in February 2015. She previously spent 12 years at Pensacola, Fla.-based Studer Group, an organization focused on helping healthcare providers improve outcomes through patient experience. A registered nurse for more than 29 years, Ms. Ketelsen has worked in a variety of healthcare settings and has clinical experience in pediatrics as well as neonatal intensive care.
Sara Laskey, MD. Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer of MetroHealth (Cleveland). Dr. Laskey took on the role of chief patient experience officer in August 2013. A board-certified emergency physician, she first joined MetroHealth in 2006. During her time in the ED, she spearheaded a number of initiatives to improve customer service and service recovery, and she was a featured speaker representing the health system at the Ohio Hospital Association Conference on Patient Experience in 2012. Dr. Laskey is a Six Sigma Lean Green Belt.
Linda Lombardi, PhD. Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Experience Officer of NYC Health+Hospitals Bellevue (New York City). Dr. Lombardi has spent 30-plus years with the Health and Hospitals Corporation and 25-plus years at Bellevue Hospital Center. As both chief strategy and chief experience officer, Dr. Lombardi oversees the full spectrum of patient experience programs, including the office of patient advocacy, patient and family advisory council and patient experience value stream. Dr. Lombardi has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels as part of her vision to create a learning environment that supports efficient and effective patient care.
Tom Malasto. Senior Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer of Community Health Network (Indianapolis). Tom Malasto was named chief patient experience officer of Community Health Network in 2013. His past experience includes serving as CEO for Community Heart and Vascular, CEO of The Indiana Heart Hospital in Indianapolis and executive director of St. Francis Heart Center, also in Indianapolis. Mr. Malasto acts as the executive champion for patients, employees and physicians at Community Health Network. Under his leadership, the organization opened a central pricing office to ensure accurate out-of-pocket estimates to patients in 2015.
Stephen Meth. Chief Experience Officer of Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). After graduating from California Western School of Law, Mr. Meth worked at a medical malpractice firm, learning about what causes patients to sue their providers. Mr. Meth went on to study the impact of communication skills on health outcomes at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, earning a master's of science in patient safety leadership. Mr. Meth served in communication and patient experience positions at UC San Diego Health System and UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento before joining Prime Healthcare in 2015.
Susan Robel, RN, BSN. Executive Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Patient Experience Officer of Geisingr (Danville, Pa.). Ms. Robel joined Geisinger in 1983 as a staff nurse and advanced within the organization to become executive vice president, chief nursing officer and chief patient experience officer. She leads integration of best practice nursing standards across the system and works with the health system's executive vice president, CMO and COO to lead the clinical enterprise. Ms. Robel is also a member of the board of trustees for the Nightingale Awards of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Action Coalition.
Dawn Rudolph. Chief Experience Officer of Saint Thomas Health (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Rudolph is no stranger to executive leadership. Prior to becoming chief experience officer at Saint Thomas in 2013, she was president and CEO of Saint Thomas West Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., and CEO of St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. In her current role, Ms. Rudolph focuses on operationalizing patient, physician and family experience strategies across all facilities. She was recognized among Nashville Post's Most Powerful Women in 2012 and named a 2012 Women to Watch Honoree by Nashville Medical News.
Christina Saint Martin. Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer for Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). Ms. Saint Martin is responsible for designing and leading patient-centered care efforts across Baylor Scott & White Health. She has previous experience as an executive leader driving business transformation as well as patient experience programs at large health systems across the country. She has training and expertise in performance improvement, service programming, design thinking and healthcare redesign innovation.
Thomas Savides, MD. Chief Experience Officer of UC San Diego Health. In 2014, Dr. Savides was named the first chief experience officer of UC San Diego Health, where he is charged with leading cultural transformation and driving enhanced patient experience. In addition to his current role, Dr. Savides is a governing member of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and president of the San Diego Gastroenterology Society. He is a two-time recipient of UC San Diego's Physician of the Year Award and also received UC San Diego Health Science's Faculty Award for Excellence in Clinical Care.
Shawn Smith. Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of MedStar Washington Hospital Center (Washington, D.C.). Prior to joining MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Mr. Smith was vice president of patient experience at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del. In collaboration with the University of Delaware in 2014, Mr. Smith played a key role in creating and developing Patient Experience Academy, a 10-week program designed to improve employees' patient service skills. Mr. Smith implemented another unique training program this year in which patient actors wearing Google Glass gave clinician rounders real-time feedback and allowed rounders to learn from watching videos from the patient's perspective. He currently serves on the patient experience advisory board for The Beryl Institute, an international group devoted to improving patient experience through collaboration.
Mariane Stefano, BSN. Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of Nemours Children's Health System (Jacksonville, Fla.). Ms. Stefano provides strategic leadership in designing and implementing service excellence initiatives enterprisewide. She joined the system in 1992 as director of the ambulatory care center and progressively moved through the system, becoming vice president of service and operational excellence for Nemours in 2012. She is an active community member and served on the board of directors for the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware as well as the Kennett Square YMCA.
Susan Pappas. Division Director of UC San Francisco Health Experience. Ms. Papas is a seasoned leader in patient experience. Prior to joining UCSF, she worked as executive director of the office of patient experience at the University of Chicago Medical Center as well as senior director of patient experience at UC San Diego Health System. Most recently, she played a key role in launching UCSF's Great People, Great Place program, an enterprisewide cultural transformation project using diverse initiatives to improve the workplace environment for staff and patients.