The Nashville Health Care Council is naming Vanderbilt’s Sam Chang, M.D., MBA, professor of Urologic Surgery and Oncology, and Neal Patel, M.D., professor of Clinical Pediatrics, to its 2016 Council Fellows class, selected by the Council Fellows Advisory Committee led by former U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D.
The Council Fellows initiative, co-directed by Frist and Larry Van Horn, Ph.D., MBA, MPH, associate professor of Management, Law and Health Policy at Vanderbilt, was launched in 2013 to engage industry leaders in clearly defining health care’s greatest challenges while exploring business strategies to navigate complex issues facing the nation’s health care system.
Nashville’s health care industry generates more than 500,000 jobs worldwide and $73 billion in annual revenue.
“Today’s health care decision-makers must be able to draw upon a diverse set of skills to effectively lead their organizations through the unprecedented changes our health system is facing,” Frist said.
“This year’s curriculum will provide a rare opportunity for the class to collaborate with innovators who are truly shaping our health care system. I am excited to see what we learn together.”
The 30-member fellows class includes some of the nation’s top health care executives.
“I feel incredibly privileged, first, to receive the support from Vanderbilt leadership and, secondly, to have been selected from a competitive applicant pool to learn from and interact with leaders from all aspects of health care,” said Chang, also the Patricia and Rodes Hart Endowed Professor of Urologic Surgery.
“With my clinical experience with the American Joint Committee on Cancer American Urologic Association, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, I plan to provide a physician-patient oriented outlook on the many pressing concerns in our industry,” he said.
Patel, who serves as Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) Chief Medical Informatics Office, said he is honored to represent VUMC as an NHC Fellow as well.
“I am excited to engage in meaningful discussions with a diverse set of health care leaders that will translate into collaborative relationships and efforts to transform our industry,” Patel said.
The eight daylong sessions held between February and May will use the expertise of industry experts in Nashville, as well as nationally known figures and leading academic institutions.
The integrated curriculum will include topics such as shifts in reimbursement systems, disruptive innovation in technology, consumerism, integrated delivery networks, population health management and globalization.
Executive skills development and a unique immersion component are also hallmarks of the specially designed curriculum.
The Council Fellows program is presented in partnership with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Community Health Systems, HCA, Healthways, LifePoint Health and Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
VUMC Council Fellows alumni include Laura Beth Brown, vice president of Vanderbilt Health Services; Mitch Edgeworth, COO, Hospital and Clinics; Oran Aaronson, M.D., medical director of the Vanderbilt Spine Center and Harsh Trivedi, M.D., CEO Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital.
