One Medical Staff Update

By Marc Belcastro, DO, system chief medical officer, Premier Health

 On April 1, the updated bylaws reflecting a unified medical staff will be official. This has been an incredible journey, and on behalf of Premier Health, I would like to say thank you to all who assisted us in achieving this milestone. I want to provide a high-level view of the new structure and congratulate members of the new system Medical Executive Committee (MEC).

Starting in April, the MECs at each facility will transition to what will be Medical Staff Operating Committees (MSOCs) with department representation at each hospital per their existing structure. As one medical staff, we only have one department of surgery, medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, etc., but each hospital may have a physician represent that department as a chair. The MSOCs will continue to oversee local peer review (MSQC) as well as professionalism and wellness and report up to the system MEC as well as the local boards. The process of credentialing will be centralized to one system committee and report through the system MEC. This MEC will report up to the Premier Health Board.

While each hospital will continue to elect a medical staff president, one of these presidents will be chosen by the MEC to be the system chief of staff. There is a regulatory requirement for a unified medical staff to have one physician leader to chair the MEC and represent the entire medical staff.

The voting members of the new MEC is now comprised of the presidents and president-elects from each hospital as well as nine at-large members (total 15 voting members). These nine at-large members have been nominated and appointed, in part, by the local MSOCs as well as the presidents and president-elects. Congratulations are in order for the following at-large members: James Ouellette, DO; Melanie Glover, MD; April Anderson, MD; Jill Aston, MD; Jamie Yunger, MD; Heather Adkins, MD; Larry Holland, DO; Scott Swabb, DO; and Nishant Kalra, MD. In addition, we thank and congratulate Mickey Denen, MD, the new chair of the system credentialing committee. Dr. Denen will transition from the credentials chair at Miami Valley Hospital to the system chair.

So many have been working behind the scenes to establish our new structure, but I wanted to extend a sincere thank you to Jenna Downey, Esq., director and corporate counsel, Premier Health, for her guidance and tireless efforts to assist in the restructuring of our medical staff.

Back to the March 2021 issue of Premier Pulse