Intermountain Healthcare President Named one of Nation's 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives

    SALT LAKE CITY, UT, June 23, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Modern Healthcare magazine has named Intermountain Healthcare president and CEO Marc Harrison, MD, to its annual list of the 50 most influential clinical executives in the nation.

This is the third consecutive year the healthcare magazine has selected Dr. Harrison in the top 10 of its annual list of the nation's most influential clinical leaders.

The rankings recognize clinicians working in the healthcare industry who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to be the most influential in terms of demonstrating leadership and impact.

"At Intermountain we get to see the impact of Dr. Harrison's leadership every day, but it's great when those efforts are recognized outside our organization," said Rob Allen, Intermountain Healthcare senior vice president and chief operating officer.

The magazine praised Dr. Harrison for taking bold steps in a number of key areas.

"Under Harrison's leadership, Intermountain took a bold stand in the fight against opioid addiction. The health system saw a 30% drop in opioid prescriptions for acute pain in 2018. That amounted to 3.8 million fewer pills," Modern Healthcare magazine said in an accompanying article on the list.

"Intermountain also reduced hospital-acquired infections by 43%. Harrison oversaw structural changes at Intermountain, including expanding physician clinic hours, resulting in more access for patients. And this May, the Intermountain-led Civica Rx announced a deal to produce its first generic drugs-two antibiotics."

Initiatives under Dr. Harrison's leadership (he was appointed president and CEO of Intermountain in 2016) such as Civica Rx, and Intermountain's opioid reduction strategy have already been remarkably successful, noted Allen. "As Intermountain has shifted focus to value-based care, these types of programs are proving to keep people healthier at a lower cost," he added.

Intermountain continues to strive for innovations that will change healthcare for the better. New initiatives include:

- The Utah Alliance for the Determinants of Health: This is a collaboration with Intermountain and local community organizations to improve health by focusing on non-medical factors such as housing instability, food insecurity, transportation, and utility needs.

- Newly announced five-year HerediGene Population Study: This new initiative, which is the largest DNA collection and mapping of a single population in U.S. history, aims to collect and analyze the genomes of 500,000 people in hopes of better predicting the correlation between genetics and serious health problems.

"Throughout the country there are examples of former and practicing physicians and nurses leading healthcare organizations towards greater quality of care, patient satisfaction and improved margins," said Aurora Aguilar, editor of Modern Healthcare magazine.

Intermountain is a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 160 clinics, 38,000 caregivers, a Medical Group with 2,300 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs.

For a link to the Modern Healthcare magazine article and the full list visit: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/awards/50-most-influential-clinical-executives-2019

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 160 clinics, a Medical Group with some 2,300 employed physicians and advanced care practitioners, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through evidence-based best practices, high quality, and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit intermountainhealthcare.org.

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