Board Chooses Nationally Respected Healthcare Innovator Dr. Ronald Paulus to Lead Mission

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The Board of Directors of Mission Health System has selected Ronald A. Paulus, M.D., MBA, to be the new president and CEO of Mission Health System and Mission Hospital.  Dr. Paulus, who has achieved national recognition in his role as Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations and Chief Innovation Officer at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, will be the first physician to assume the top executive position at Mission and the first in N.C. to lead a community-owned, not-for-profit health system.

According to Mission Board Chairman George Renfro, Dr. Paulus’ appointment will be effective by September 1, 2010.  Dr. Paulus, who will succeed interim CEO Carleton T. Rider, was chosen by Mission’s community-based Board after a national search.

Board Vice Chair Janice Brumit, who led the search committee, said they found in Dr. Paulus “a true innovator in healthcare, someone who has not only the proven track record but also the vision and passion to lead Mission toward even higher levels of patient-centered service and quality in this fast-changing healthcare environment.”

Dr. Paulus, 47, has been at Geisinger since 2005, where he currently serves as executive vice president for clinical operations and chief innovation officer.  That health system gained national attention during the recent healthcare reform debate as one of the country’s leaders in delivering high quality, cost-effective care.  While at Geisinger, Dr. Paulus had responsibility for more than $1 billion in clinical operations including two hospitals, more than 40 clinics and over 8,000 employees.

During his tenure  at Geisinger, he was responsible for developing numerous system-wide innovations, led Geisinger’s participation in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician Group Practice Demonstration and planned conversion to an Accountable Care Organization, created Geisinger’s Accelerated Performance Program designed to dramatically improve clinical quality and operating efficiency  and introduced numerous technology and care model innovations such as Geisinger’s ProvenCare® acute bundled payment care model, dubbed by the New York Times as “Surgery with a Warranty.”  He has published and lectured extensively at the national level on the topics of physician-hospital partnerships to improve clinical care, engaging patients in actively managing their own health and in novel uses of healthcare data and technology.

Dr. Paulus said he is eager to join Mission – a system that, like Geisinger, has been held up as a model for combining high quality and low cost. “I see Mission’s future as one of America’s leading health systems, serving patients in new ways that result in better health outcomes for this entire region,” he said. “I’m excited to begin to work alongside the physicians, nurses, other clinicians and staff at Mission who have built such an outstanding health system.”

“One of the things that attracted me to Mission Health System is the long history of collegiality and cooperation among the hospitals and physicians in Western N.C. to provide the best care close to home. This is one reason why the region continues to be ranked as among the nation’s best for providing high quality, low cost care. I look forward to getting to know the physicians and my fellow hospital CEOs personally and learning from them how we can work together to improve the health of the region,” Paulus said.

Brumit commented that one of the reasons Dr. Paulus emerged as the Board’s choice was the fact that his 20 year healthcare career has included leadership in a variety of settings. “He has a broad perspective, having been an executive with for-profit and not-for-profit healthcare organizations and has worked both successfully and extensively with both private practice and employed physicians,” she said.

“As a physician executive, Dr. Paulus will bring a refreshing and welcomed perspective to the Mission Hospital administrative team,” said William Hathaway, M.D., a cardiologist with Asheville Cardiology and incoming Chief of Staff at Mission Hospital.  “His breadth of experience and success in prior endeavors is impressive and exciting. This choice exemplifies the commitment that the Board, the administration and the physicians at Mission have to the provision of world class health care for the patient’s of Western North Carolina.”

 Dr. Paulus earned his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, receiving the school’s highest graduation recommendation: “outstanding.”  He completed his internship in Internal Medicine at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.  In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Paulus holds an M.B.A. with distinction from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School with a concentration in Healthcare Management, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School with a concentration in Health Policy.