Letter from the Chief Medical Officer
Dear Colleagues:
Brigham and Women's Hospital is a national and international leader in delivering the safest, high quality care, pioneering innovative treatments and procedures, performing both basic and translational research and educating and training the next generation of physicians, nurses and other clinicians. Everyone works together with a collective commitment to our patients and their families, and this all happens thanks, in part, to our leaders who set the tone and enable our clinicians, investigators and staff to achieve excellence.
The BWPO is comprised of 1,250 members who aspire to provide the highest quality patient care, train and mentor the next generation of physician leaders and serve as world leaders in basic and translational research. Our leadership team plays a key role in helping the BWPO and BWH achieve these goals. With Allen Smith, MD, MS, as president, Jessica Dudley, MD, as our chief medical officer, and William Johnston as our chief financial officer, we have in place a rare combination of tremendous institutional knowledge, deep clinical expertise and an intuitive understanding of the health care industry.
Bill has been the PO's top financial leader since the PO was first conceived. He helped create and lead the development of the financial and operational foundation when we combined 17 distinct departments and business units into a single entity. A multi-talented leader for sure, Bill also leads operations for PO Information Systems, HR and other key functions with an unmatched historic perspective and an innate understanding of where we need to go.
Allen and Jessica smoothly transitioned into their roles recently, with Allen assuming the position of president and Jessica succeeding him as chief medical officer. Allen came to BWH as an experienced primary care physician and leader at Tufts Health Plan, and his insight from both the provider and payer perspectives has proven invaluable. Allen is an expert in every aspect of physician-patient-insurer relationships. He has deep experience with a multitude of models of organizing medical care from fee-for service practice to full-capitation. Jessica, too, understands the growing demands heaped on our clinicians whether she is leading efforts to improve work life, facilitate volunteer opportunities or provide support to meet pay-for-performance thresholds. Jessica chairs the PO task force focused on preparing our health system for new models of professional reimbursement, including pay-for performance.
Their efforts, like those of everyone in the PO and at Brigham and Women's Hospital, are fueled by one common element: supporting the tripartite mission of our clinicians, ensuring the best care for our patients, developing the next generation of leaders and maximizing the benefits of our basic and translational research. We're lucky to have Allen, Jessica and Bill as our PO leaders.
Sincerely,
Andy Whittemore, MD
Chief Medical Officer