Joseph A. White, MBA, FACHE, president & CEO, Lowell General Hospital and Circle Health, is the 79th Chair of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA). He succeeds Mark A. Keroack, MD, MPH, president & CEO, Baystate Health. 

In his inaugural address, White urged attendees to think beyond the walls of their own facilities to connect all the components of the commonwealth’s health system, and to work collaboratively to advance and improve health for everyone in the commonwealth. 

“As the healthcare sector continues the march toward value and reducing the total cost of care, it will drive us to a better understanding of the complete care continuum, to new expanded partnerships that improve access and efficiency,” White said. “We will be asked to think differently about not only the total cost of high-quality care but also about finding new ways to fund investments that prevent illness in the first place. Several of our members are well along in this journey and it is my hope we can all learn and engage.”
 
Both White and MHA President & CEO Steve Walsh noted a variety of hospital-led efforts throughout the commonwealth to improve the delivery of care. Walsh cited MHA’s “Caring for the Caregiver” initiative to identify and promote ways that Massachusetts hospitals and health systems can best support their frontline caregivers.  

“We all know that the most important component of healthcare is the people,” said Walsh. “Hospitals will redouble their efforts in the coming year to ensure the healthcare workforce has the resiliency and resources to improve care to patients, families and communities.”

This year’s MHA Annual Meeting included two interactive pre-conference educational sessions on Wednesday, June 12th. The first focused on the characteristics of high performing teams led by Camden Consulting Group, and the second examined effective leadership traits and how attendees could successfully leverage or develop them, led by faculty from Bates Communications.

The educational programming continued all day on Thursday, June 13th and included presentations from national and local experts on improving the patient experience, diversity and inclusion in the healthcare workplace, future generational and demographic factors of work, and new frontiers in healthcare technology. The afternoon closed with a panel discussion featuring five hospital CEOs from across the state examining the latest topics in healthcare. 
Award-winning television journalist, author, and film producer John Donvan served as emcee for all of Thursday’s sessions, and also spoke about his own efforts to publicly highlight the impact of autism on families and communities, sparked by his experiences with a brother-in-law on the autism spectrum. As the programming drew to a close, Donovan commented from the stage that he found the authenticity of the presenters and their frank discussions of vulnerable moments “unusual for a healthcare conference and very positive.”

The meeting wrapped up on Friday, June 14th with the annual Stephen J. Hegarty Lecture, which honors the memory of the former MHA president who was diagnosed with cancer in 1993 and succumbed to the disease. This year, NFL wide-receiver Brandon Marshall, whose Project 375 works to remove the stigma of mental illness, told attendees that his profession is football “but I found my purpose on the campus of McLean Hospital.”
  
Marshall was describing the three months he spent at McLean in Belmont, Mass. during 2011 when he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The recovery he made spurred him to his current work as a mental health advocate. He used a combination of humor and heartfelt stories of the struggles he and his family faced to drive home the need for health systems to rethink their approaches to mental health.
Also at the meeting, MHA's board leadership team was announced for 2019-2020: 


Officers

Chair: Joseph A. White, MBA, FACHE; president & CEO, Lowell General Hospital and Circle Health. 
Chair-elect: Eric W. Dickson, MD, MHCM, FACEP; president & CEO, UMass Memorial Health Care
Treasurer: Kevin B. Churchwell, MD; president & COO, Boston Children’s Hospital
Secretary: Christine C. Schuster, RN, MBA; president & CEO, Emerson Hospital
Immediate 
Past Chair: Mark A. Keroack, MD, MPH; president & CEO, Baystate Health.
Past Chair Most 
Recently Retired: Kate E. Walsh, MPH; president & CEO, Boston Medical Center

Trustees-at-large

Class of 2020:

• Reappointed – Philip M. Cormier; CEO, Beverly Hospital, part of Beth Israel Lahey Health
• Reappointed – Andrew S. Freed; trustee, MelroseWakefield Healthcare and CEO, Virtual, Inc.
• Reappointed – Gene E. Green, MD, MBA, president & CEO, South Shore Health System
• Reappointed – Kim Hollon, FACHE; president & CEO, Signature Healthcare and Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital
• Newly Nominated – Therese M. Hudson-Jinks, RN, MSN; president, Organization of Nurse Leaders and chief nursing officer and SVP, patient care services, Tufts Medical Center
• Newly Nominated – Thea L. James, MD; VP, mission and associate CMO, Boston Medical Center
• Reappointed - Michael J. Sheehy, MD; chief of population health & analytics, Reliant Medical Group
• Reappointed – Deborah K. Weymouth, MBA, FACHE; president & CEO, UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital
• Reappointed – Michael J. Widmer, PhD; Retired – past president, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
• Reappointed - Louis J. Woolf; president & CEO, Hebrew SeniorLife

Class of 2022:

• Reappointed – Winfield S. Brown, MSB, MHA, FACHE; president & CEO, Heywood Healthcare
• Newly Nominated – Spiros Hatiras, FACHE; president & CEO, Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems
• Newly Nominated – Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD; president, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham Health
• Newly Nominated – Anne Roper; CEO, Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital, An Affiliate of Encompass Health
• Newly Nominated – Nancy L. Shendell-Falik, RN, MA; president, Baystate Medical Center & SVP, hospital operations, Baystate Health

These nominees will join MHA president & CEO Steve Walsh, and the following current Board members with unexpired terms:

• Maureen Banks, RN, DNP, MBA, FACHE; COO, Spaulding Rehabilitation Network and president, Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care Cambridge & Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod
• Ruth Ellen Fitch, Esq.; Trustee, Boston Medical Center 
• Michael R. Jaff, DO; president, Newton-Wellesley Hospital 
• Peter J. Healy, MHA; president, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, part of Beth Israel Lahey Health 
• Edward J. Kelly; president & CEO, Milford Regional Medical Center 
• Michael K. Lauf, MBA; president & CEO, Cape Cod Healthcare, Inc. and Cape Cod Hospital
• Joanne Marqusee; president & CEO, Cooley Dickinson Health
• Kevin Tabb, MD; president & CEO, Beth Israel Lahey Health


Pictured (left to right): Steve Walsh, President & CEO, Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA); Joseph A. White, MBA, FACHE, president & CEO, Lowell General Hospital and Circle Health; Mark A. Keroack, MD, MPH, president & CEO, Baystate Health. 




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