Laura Kaiser has served as COO at Intermountain Healthcare for five years. She will start at SSM Health in May.
St. Louis-based SSM Health has named Intermountain Healthcare Chief Operating Officer Laura Kaiser as its next president and CEO.
A Missouri native, Kaiser has served as second in command at Intermountain for five years. She will start in May at SSM Health.
She was named following a nationwide search to pick a successor to current President and CEO Bill Thompson, who announced his retirement in 2016. Thompson, who has served as president and CEO at the nonprofit since August 2011, will retire at the end of April after 37 years of service with the company.
The move comes as Intermountain is breaking in its own new CEO, Marc Harrison, MD, who started there last May.
In naming Kaiser as the next leader of the Catholic, not-for-profit health system with a 20-hospital health system and 60 outpatient care sites in four states, the SSM board noted her more than 30 years' experience in improving clinical quality while also improving operational performance and growth.
"Ms. Kaiser is a gifted and visionary leader with a proven track record of achieving extraordinary results," said David Cosby, chair of SSM Health's board of directors, in a media statement.
"We believe she is the right leader to help lead our organization into the future, while ensuring the strength of our mission and providing our patients and customers with the exceptional care and service they have come to expect from SSM Health."
Kaiser's Priorities
Facilitating complementary integration among the health system's varied businesses will be among Kaiser's top priorities. In addition to its hospitals and outpatient care sites, SSM operates a pharmacy benefit company, an insurance company, a technology company, and two accountable care organizations.
Intermountain is similar in size to SSM. It is considered one of the more integrated health systems in the country, with a health plan, dozens of outpatient and primary care sites, and clinics and 22 hospitals.
Kaiser will also guide SSM's transition to a value-based model of care.
"It is an honor and a privilege to join the wonderful SSM Health caregiver team and to lead this extraordinary faith-based healthcare system with an international reputation for quality," she said.
Prior to her time at Intermountain, Kaiser spent 15 years at Ascension Health, where she was ministry market leader of the Gulf Coast/Florida region.
Philip Betbeze is the senior leadership editor at HealthLeaders.