February 26, 2013
Community Health Network, St.Vincent Health and Suburban Health Organization Select Accountable Care Consortium President
INDIANAPOLIS – Elizabeth Simpkin has accepted the role of president of the Accountable Care Consortium (ACC) formed this past fall by Community Health Network, St. Vincent Health and six hospitals within the Suburban Health Organization: Hancock Regional Hospital, Hendricks Regional Health, Henry County Hospital, Johnson Memorial Hospital, Riverview Hospital, and Witham Health Services.
"Liz has the perfect background to hit the ground running with the ACC," said Dave Lippincott, president of Suburban Health Organization.
As president of the ACC, Simpkin will be responsible for setting the strategic direction and implementing initiatives that will achieve the ACC goals of improving the quality of patient care, while lowering the cost of healthcare delivery. Simpkin will work closely with the key committees of the ACC, and establish the leadership team that will be responsible for management of the organization. The ACC is a separate entity with its own board that will serve Central Indiana by focusing on innovative healthcare solutions for employers and commercial markets.
"Elizabeth Simpkin has the knowledge and experience to lead a complex organization like our ACC initiative," said Bryan Mills, president and CEO of Community Health Network. "She will be able to lead on day one and put us in a great position to increase patient access to high-quality healthcare."
"As we work to reform healthcare in our state with the development of the ACC, it was essential for us to bring in a reputable leader who has the necessary knowledge and experience to engage employers and commercial payers, and has the relationship building skills to collaborate with a number of providers," said Vincent Caponi, CEO of St.Vincent Health, and Ascension Health Ministry Market Leader - Indiana/Wisconsin. "We are pleased to welcome Liz to the team."
Simpkin comes to the ACC from Valence Health in Chicago where she led the consulting practice. Her client work includes successful strategy development that focuses on value-based purchasing, clinical integration, and formation of Accountable Care Organizations and other risk-taking entities. Her experience also includes provider and health plan strategy and operations, performance-based managed care contracting for provider organizations, and physician organization and physician-hospital alignment. She holds a master's degree in economics, with an emphasis in healthcare from Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business.
"I am both impressed and excited by the genuine commitment of the administrative and clinical leadership of these organizations to collaborate," said Simpkin. "Their focus on bringing a new product to the market that will both reduce costs and increase the quality of care delivered in Central Indiana is truly unique."
Simpkin began her new role as ACC president on February 25th.
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About Community Health Network
Ranked among the nation's most integrated healthcare systems, Community Health Network is central Indiana's leader in providing convenient access to exceptional healthcare services, where and when patients need them—in hospitals, health pavilions and doctor's offices, as well as workplaces, schools and homes. As a non-profit health system with over 200 sites of care and affiliates throughout central Indiana, Community's full continuum of care integrates hundreds of physicians, specialty and acute care hospitals, surgery centers, home care services, MedChecks, behavioral health and employer health services. To learn more, visiteCommunity.com or call 800-777-7775.
About St. Vincent Health
St.Vincent Health is a nonprofit, spiritually-centered health system, sponsored by Ascension Health of St. Louis, MO., the nation's largest Catholic health system. St.Vincent Health is one of Indiana's largest employers with 22 health ministries serving central and southern Indiana. The 131-year-old health system delivers high quality, compassionate care in service areas such as cardiovascular, womens, childrens, neurosciences, cancer care, orthopedics, bariatrics, primary care, emergency medicine, imaging, general surgery and long-term acute care.
About Suburban Health Organization
Suburban Health Organization (SHO) is a partnership of central Indiana Hospitals that work together to promote quality, efficiency and patient access. SHO supports its hospitals, its physicians and the communities they serve through the development of strategic initiatives and shared services. From quality initiatives and physician recruitment, to managed care contracting, and a risk retention group, the strength and diversity of these services help make SHO's hospitals and physicians one of the leading provider networks in central Indiana. For more information about SHO, visit www.suburbanhealth.com.
For more information contact:
Lynda de Widt, Community Health Network
(317) 621-3636
ldewidt@eCommunity.com
Johnny Smith, St. Vincent Health
(317) 583-3961
jasmith1@stvincent.org
Dan Leiter, Suburban Health Organization
(317) 692-5222 ext. 267
DanL@suburbanhealth.com