The Chessman Cometh

As president and chief operating officer of Emory's diverse and rapidly expanding clinical enterprise, John Fox will coordinate all the right moves.
Emory Healthcare's Newest Chessman

by Marlene Goldman

Political gaming and positioning have historically been part of the internal politics of health care - a condition that health care organizations can no longer afford, says the new president and chief operating officer of Emory Healthcare.

"The obfuscation of issues has never been more expensive and risky," says John Fox, "not only in terms of dollars but how it drains an organization. While I don't expect internal politics to go away, it's important to deal openly and honestly with all constituencies - to engage everyone in articulating and implementing strategy so it truly becomes the organization's strategy."

That philosophy will guide Fox as he takes the helm of an Emory Healthcare that has more than doubled its clinical enterprise over the past few years, most recently by partnering with Columbia/ HCA's Atlanta-area hospitals and surgery centers. They join The Emory Clinic, four hospitals, our geriatric arm Wesley Woods, an affiliate network of some 50 community hospitals, the Emory Children's Center, and 14 primary care centers in metro Atlanta.

His job: helping all those components work together and plan strategically for the system's future. His priority: improving quality, service, and cost performance at all levels of Emory Healthcare. "Those three variables will ultimately determine our success in the marketplace," he says.

Fox arrives at an especially difficult time for academic medicine. Emory must deal with repercussions of the 1997 Budget Reconciliation Act, which dramatically reduced Medicare reimbursements and will impact education and patient care. Emory Hospitals alone estimate cutbacks at $76 million by the year 2002, primarily in indirect medical education payments.

"Every major medical center is having to adjust to those cutbacks. It's critical that leadership and all constituencies find ways together to effectively deal with their implications," Fox says.

He also will work out operational details of the Emory-Columbia/HCA partnership and will help define Emory's medical management responsibilities. In addition, Fox will oversee Emory Healthcare's affiliations program as well as business development, community affairs, corporate finance, information systems, managed care, and marketing. He will be chief negotiator for new ventures, acquisitions, and affiliations, and will review all managed care contracts and other potential contractual agreements.

He will work closely with CEOs of Emory Healthcare's components to develop and implement a systemwide strategy to improve the care and value Emory provides its patients, and with the chief financial officer of Emory Healthcare to enhance how funds flow among these components to ensure efficient and effective operation.

Fox is no stranger to shaping successful strategies for large health care organizations. He brings to Emory a wide breadth of experience in academic and community health care as well as an impressive track record as a pivotal change agent and team builder who gets things done.


John Fox brings to Emory Healthcare
an impressive record as a team builder
who shapes successful health care strategies.


The former executive vice president of Clarian Health Partners in Indianapolis, in fact, is often credited with helping redraw Indiana's health care landscape. Established in 1997, Clarian is the product of a series of mergers and acquisitions in which Fox was deeply involved. When he first joined Clarian's predecessor, Methodist Health Group consisted of three hospitals and a newly acquired HMO/group practice, which had lost $8.5 million the previous year. Working with the group practice and a strong team of physicians, the practice realized $10 million in net income within five years. Fox helped engineer various cost-reduction programs that saved Clarian $58 million. Today Clarian has 10,300 employees, three large acute care teaching hospitals, three rural hospitals, a physician medical group, Indiana's largest HMO group practice, and the state's largest home health company. He also helped initiate a system-wide service improvement program for patients, families, and health care providers.

Industry watchers give Fox much credit for Clarian's success - a net of $63 million during its first year. One Indiana health care consultant singled out Fox as the "best chessman in this part of the country."

All told, Fox has spent more than 20 years in health care, including a stint at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was vice president and chief financial officer. He developed new operating plans with the chiefs of services and a plan for positioning ambulatory operations in key suburban locations in and around Baltimore. Working closely there with then associate dean for clinical practice, Michael Johns, he reorganized the faculty practice plan and developed a new outpatient center.

But Fox tends to downplay his role in those successes. "Most of the work was done by others. It's important to acknowledge that. And there are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things at Emory Healthcare. I'm glad to have the opportunity to work with them."

In this Issue


From the Director  /  Letters

Emory & Columbia/HCA Open New Doors

Q & A with Columbia/HCA

EHCA at a Glance  /  Map

Emory's Newest Chessman

Global Attack on AIDS

Taking Stock

Moving Forward  /  Noteworthy

Drug trials. Who needs them?

Reaching Out to Nicaragua

 

 

 


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Web version by Jaime Henriquez.