Proliance Surgeons Select Mark Barnhart as Chief Executive Officer

USA - English

• USA - English

SEATTLE, Feb. 08, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Proliance Surgeons announced that its board of directors has appointed Mark Barnhart as the organization's new chief executive officer, effective February 1, 2019. Barnhart comes to Proliance at a key juncture in its evolution and maturation, with a wide breadth of executive leadership experience in physician practices, hospital systems and managed healthcare operations.

"With Proliance in the strong position that it is, we feel it is the perfect time to appoint an experienced leader like Mark to be this organization's next CEO," said Dr. Charles Peterson II, who served as interim CEO at Proliance while the organization conducted its search. "Mark is completely aligned with our quest to build an even stronger, more cohesive and successful organization, and we are excited to introduce him to our local and regional business partners and healthcare colleagues in the months to come."

Barnhart has more than 32 years of healthcare industry experience, having served in both managed care and health system management roles during his career. Most recently, Barnhart served as a vice president for seven years at Community Health Systems (CHS), one of the largest publicly-traded hospital companies in the U.S. and a leading operator of general acute-care hospitals in communities across the country. Mark has led CHS' value-based healthcare initiatives in 15 accountable care organizations and bundled payments across 20 states and 120 hospitals.

Prior to his work at CHS, Barnhart served for 10 years as chief operating officer for the physician practices at two academic medical centers: West Penn Allegheny Health System, which has more than 600 physicians, and Ohio State University, with more than 800 physicians. In these roles, Barnhart led initiatives that focused on creating medical cost savings while improving the care it is providing patients, a priority that he is taking with him to his new role at Proliance.

"Proliance delivers extraordinary value to its patients and the companies it serves in Washington by increasing the quality of healthcare for patients while reducing overall medical costs for all," said Barnhart. "I am excited to begin helping our physician leaders and staff in their efforts to innovate while expanding our market position to provide even greater value to consumers in the Seattle area."

"Proliance has an incredibly robust history in the Pacific Northwest and adding Barnhart to our executive team is going to bring another layer of perspective to help guide our path forward in the future," said Dr. Peterson. "We're very confident Proliance has the right leadership to drive us forward while making a meaningful impact on the people we serve and the organizations we choose to partner with on a daily basis."

The intensive leadership search and interview process that led to Barnhart's hire was successfully conducted by a hand-picked search committee and the Proliance board of directors, with the help of executive recruitment firm Korn-Ferry.

"I look forward to contributing to the strategic journey for Proliance in the coming years. After all, it is the physicians and their staff who are improving patient lives and it's my job as CEO to help make their job easier. We are looking forward to growing Proliance's footprint and awareness throughout the Puget Sound region, Washington State and beyond," said Barnhart.

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About Proliance Surgeons
A physician-owned-and-managed company, Proliance Surgeons (https://www.proliancesurgeons.com) is one of the largest surgical practices in the country with more than 458 providers including 245 board-certified physicians, providing treatment at 38 Care Centers and 23 Ambulatory Surgery Centers in Washington. The organization's range of specialties include: Orthopedics, Otolaryngology, General Surgery, Ophthalmology, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Plastic Surgery, Urology, Pain Management, Sports Medicine and Physiatry. More than 50,000 outpatient surgeries are performed annually in the organizations' ASCs, where quality is excellent and costs are typically lower, with faster recovery times than in traditional hospitals. In 2018, Proliance physicians had more than one million patient visits. Its unique in-house business model combines cutting-edge clinical expertise with innovation to bring patients a new kind of healthcare that puts them in the driver's seat, reducing rehabilitation time and medical costs.

Note to editors: For photos and more information on Mark Barnhart, please contact a member of Proliance's communications team at [email protected].

SOURCE Proliance