In a return paired with a side of reconnection, former University of Iowa Health Care Chief Financial Officer Bradley Haws — who left two years ago for a similar post at Emory Healthcare — has been chosen to come back as the UI Hospitals and Clinics chief executive officer, a role vacated by Suresh Gunasekaran in early 2022.
In rejoining the UIHC administration, Haws will find himself working alongside new UI Health Care Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson — who the university also recently hired away from her leadership posts at Atlanta’s Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare.
“I am thrilled that Brad is returning to Iowa,” Jamieson said in a statement. “Brad has a proven track record of excellence in health care management, particularly in academic medicine. He’s a great collaborator and brings a passion for serving our mission.”
Haws in a statement said he, too, is "eager to come back to UI Health Care in this new role, especially during a time of transformative growth for the organization and with new opportunities to expand access to high-quality health care for Iowans.“
Haws will start Nov. 29 — charged to lead with a growth and “systems mindset.” Although the university didn’t immediately release Haws’ starting salary, his successor Gunasekaran was making $1.1 million when he left in early 2022.
“Ideally, this candidate will bring ideas and best practices from another organization that has been innovative and thriving in terms of its evolution from one to two sites of care to a multisite system of care,” according to a list of desired outcomes for a new CEO, who also was urged to “drive strategic growth” and identify opportunities for partnerships, joint ventures and alliances.
Where Jamieson reports to UI President Barbara Wilson and Provost Kevin Kregel — overseeing all of UI Health Care, including its Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics — Haws will report to Jamieson and lead its $2 billion clinical enterprise, which is in the midst of explosive growth.
Among his direct reports are Chief Medical Officer Theresa Brennan and Chief Nurse Executive Kimberly Hunter, who’s been serving as interim UIHC CEO since Gunasekaran left in February 2022 to head the No. 5-ranked University of California-San Francisco Academic Health System.
Just weeks after Gunasekaran announced his departure, then-UI Health Care Vice President for Medical Affairs Brooks Jackson said he, too, was stepping down — compelling Wilson, just six months into her job, to prioritize replacing Jackson before Gunasekaran.
A UI search committee in May named Jamieson vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Carver College of Medicine — with an Aug. 1 start date. Just weeks before her arrival, the university launched its search for a new UIHC CEO, tapping search firm Spencer Stuart to help.
A 12-person search committee chaired by UI Senior Adviser to the President and Vice President for External Affairs Peter Matthes and UI Department of Pathology Executive Officer Nitin Karandikar in the last two weeks brought two CEO finalists to town.
Haws was identified as the first — visiting the campus Oct. 23 and 24.
Rick Shumway — president and CEO of Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley, part of Stanford Medicine serving primarily the “East Bay” near San Francisco — was identified as the second finalist, visiting campus last week.
Neither participated in public forms, meeting only with search committee members and senior leaders “to present his qualifications and share his vision for UIHC.”
Haws rejoins UIHC leadership at a time of massive change and growth — with the university this week buying Iowa City’s 150-year-old Mercy Hospital after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug. 7 and put its assets up for sale at auction.
Through a sale approved Monday by a bankruptcy judge, the university will pay $28 million for 17 Mercy properties. The university said it will do an “in-depth analysis of the health care needs of the Iowa City community” before modifying Mercy facilities or services — although UIHC has promised to put an additional $25 million toward infrastructure upgrades at Mercy over the next five years.
On its own campus, UIHC is building a $1 billion inpatient tower in the coming months and years, citing reports of crammed quarters and too few hospital beds, leaving patients stranded in the emergency room for hours, if not days, or at other hospitals seeking a transfer.
UIHC also is adding two floors to its existing inpatient tower, costing $95 million; upgrading and expanding its current emergency room for $37 million; building out two unfinished floors of its UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital for $90 million; and fixing floors of damaged windows up and down the Children’s Hospital — costing at least $45 million.
Those projects are just a fraction of the work happening on the main Iowa City and in other parts of the community and region — with UIHC building a $525.6 million new hospital in North Liberty, which will feature orthopedics care and a second emergency room.
Among Haws job responsibilities — as outlined on the search website — he must:
Desired outcomes for the new UIHC CEO include:
Before coming to UIHC the first time in 2018 as CFO, Haws earned CEO experience as head of the University of Virginia Physicians Group — a multispecialty practice of more than 1,000 physicians and health professionals affiliated with the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
In addition to that stint, Haws served as that medical school’s senior associate dean for finance and chief operating officer. Prior to that, Haws was founding chief financial officer of the Intermountain Medical Group in Salt Lake City, a nonprofit health care system.
He earned a master’s of business administration and bachelor’s degree in Utah at Brigham Young University.
During his previous three years at Iowa, Haws oversaw all the sprawling health care enterprise’s financial operations — including its revenue cycle, debt structure, investment strategy, third-party contracting and financial risk management.
He helped UIHC bounce back from pandemic-propelled 2020 losses, and — instead of tallying more “red” financials in 2021 — guided UIHC to a revenue bump by the end of that budget year.
When Haws left for Emory in 2021, UIHC administrators said Haws had helped develop a new funding model, revitalize the system’s revenue cycle and innovate.
Acknowledging the challenges of COVID-19, university leadership said Haws “played an important role in stabilizing UI Health Care finances so that the organization could emerge from the crisis on solid financial footing.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for
www.thegazette.com
In rejoining the UIHC administration, Haws will find himself working alongside new UI Health Care Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson — who the university also recently hired away from her leadership posts at Atlanta’s Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare.
“I am thrilled that Brad is returning to Iowa,” Jamieson said in a statement. “Brad has a proven track record of excellence in health care management, particularly in academic medicine. He’s a great collaborator and brings a passion for serving our mission.”
Haws in a statement said he, too, is "eager to come back to UI Health Care in this new role, especially during a time of transformative growth for the organization and with new opportunities to expand access to high-quality health care for Iowans.“
Haws will start Nov. 29 — charged to lead with a growth and “systems mindset.” Although the university didn’t immediately release Haws’ starting salary, his successor Gunasekaran was making $1.1 million when he left in early 2022.
“Ideally, this candidate will bring ideas and best practices from another organization that has been innovative and thriving in terms of its evolution from one to two sites of care to a multisite system of care,” according to a list of desired outcomes for a new CEO, who also was urged to “drive strategic growth” and identify opportunities for partnerships, joint ventures and alliances.
Where Jamieson reports to UI President Barbara Wilson and Provost Kevin Kregel — overseeing all of UI Health Care, including its Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics — Haws will report to Jamieson and lead its $2 billion clinical enterprise, which is in the midst of explosive growth.
Among his direct reports are Chief Medical Officer Theresa Brennan and Chief Nurse Executive Kimberly Hunter, who’s been serving as interim UIHC CEO since Gunasekaran left in February 2022 to head the No. 5-ranked University of California-San Francisco Academic Health System.
Just weeks after Gunasekaran announced his departure, then-UI Health Care Vice President for Medical Affairs Brooks Jackson said he, too, was stepping down — compelling Wilson, just six months into her job, to prioritize replacing Jackson before Gunasekaran.
A UI search committee in May named Jamieson vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Carver College of Medicine — with an Aug. 1 start date. Just weeks before her arrival, the university launched its search for a new UIHC CEO, tapping search firm Spencer Stuart to help.
A 12-person search committee chaired by UI Senior Adviser to the President and Vice President for External Affairs Peter Matthes and UI Department of Pathology Executive Officer Nitin Karandikar in the last two weeks brought two CEO finalists to town.
Haws was identified as the first — visiting the campus Oct. 23 and 24.
Rick Shumway — president and CEO of Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley, part of Stanford Medicine serving primarily the “East Bay” near San Francisco — was identified as the second finalist, visiting campus last week.
Neither participated in public forms, meeting only with search committee members and senior leaders “to present his qualifications and share his vision for UIHC.”
Change and growth
Haws rejoins UIHC leadership at a time of massive change and growth — with the university this week buying Iowa City’s 150-year-old Mercy Hospital after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug. 7 and put its assets up for sale at auction.
Through a sale approved Monday by a bankruptcy judge, the university will pay $28 million for 17 Mercy properties. The university said it will do an “in-depth analysis of the health care needs of the Iowa City community” before modifying Mercy facilities or services — although UIHC has promised to put an additional $25 million toward infrastructure upgrades at Mercy over the next five years.
On its own campus, UIHC is building a $1 billion inpatient tower in the coming months and years, citing reports of crammed quarters and too few hospital beds, leaving patients stranded in the emergency room for hours, if not days, or at other hospitals seeking a transfer.
UIHC also is adding two floors to its existing inpatient tower, costing $95 million; upgrading and expanding its current emergency room for $37 million; building out two unfinished floors of its UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital for $90 million; and fixing floors of damaged windows up and down the Children’s Hospital — costing at least $45 million.
Those projects are just a fraction of the work happening on the main Iowa City and in other parts of the community and region — with UIHC building a $525.6 million new hospital in North Liberty, which will feature orthopedics care and a second emergency room.
Job duties
Among Haws job responsibilities — as outlined on the search website — he must:
- Oversee a strategic plan containing goals and objectives aligned with UIHC’s mission and vision;
- Create an “ethical and transparent working environment”;
- Find operational efficiencies, while also providing top quality and safe care;
- Collaborate with the medical college to enhance clinical research aligned with patient care goals;
- Control expenses “in accordance with the budget plan” and report to the Board of Regents;
- Create and support a system “highly focused on population health, quality and safety, education, research, and patient and consumer satisfaction”;
- Sustain an environment of “continuous quality improvement”;
- And “study the market — from traditional and non-traditional competition, risk-based contracting, health care reform, Medicaid/Medicare issues — and inform the appropriate constituents of the effects, as well as the plans to respond to potential threats and seize opportunities.”
Desired outcomes for the new UIHC CEO include:
- Creating a “dynamic vision” for UI Health Care by “propelling strategic growth in key service lines at all sites of care in a way that enhances patient care”;
- Providing an “astute financial perspective” creating accountability for the clinical enterprise; and building a team that is “financially rigorous and growth oriented”;
- Driving “strategic growth” and defining clinical footprint should look like;
- Holding a “systems mindset” — eyeing evolution to a multisite system of care;
- And collaborating and partnering across the campus, community, and state.
‘Played an important role’
Before coming to UIHC the first time in 2018 as CFO, Haws earned CEO experience as head of the University of Virginia Physicians Group — a multispecialty practice of more than 1,000 physicians and health professionals affiliated with the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
In addition to that stint, Haws served as that medical school’s senior associate dean for finance and chief operating officer. Prior to that, Haws was founding chief financial officer of the Intermountain Medical Group in Salt Lake City, a nonprofit health care system.
He earned a master’s of business administration and bachelor’s degree in Utah at Brigham Young University.
During his previous three years at Iowa, Haws oversaw all the sprawling health care enterprise’s financial operations — including its revenue cycle, debt structure, investment strategy, third-party contracting and financial risk management.
He helped UIHC bounce back from pandemic-propelled 2020 losses, and — instead of tallying more “red” financials in 2021 — guided UIHC to a revenue bump by the end of that budget year.
When Haws left for Emory in 2021, UIHC administrators said Haws had helped develop a new funding model, revitalize the system’s revenue cycle and innovate.
Acknowledging the challenges of COVID-19, university leadership said Haws “played an important role in stabilizing UI Health Care finances so that the organization could emerge from the crisis on solid financial footing.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for
UI Health Care brings back CFO Bradley Haws as next CEO
In a return paired with a side of reconnection, former University of Iowa Health Care Chief Financial Officer Bradley Haws — who left two years ago for the CFO post at Emory Healthcare — has been chosen to come back as UI Hospitals & Clinics CEO, a role vacated by Suresh Gunasekaran in early 2022.
www.thegazette.com
