Dr. Arthur Klein has joined Lifespan as senior vice president, chief physician officer. He was formerly executive vice president and chief operating officer at New York Presbyterian Healthcare System. In his new role, Klein is responsible for performance improvement, physician networking and the execution of expansion strategies throughout the Lifespan health care system. He will also serve as associate dean for strategic and special projects at Brown Medical School.
PBN: Why has Lifespan created this position now?
KLEIN: Lifespan is committed to expanding clinical programs that are relevant to the Rhode Island community and will enhance the reputation of the system. In this position, I will be able to help the leadership of Lifespan and its affiliates strategize and facilitate the growth of new programs.
PBN: How do you interact with each hospital’s chief medical officer?
KLEIN: My role is not to supplant in any way the very important work done by the chief medical officers of each Lifespan affiliate. Rather, as chief physician officer, my role will be to work with the chief medical officers in expanding the clinical quality and other performance improvement initiatives at each institution, and to help in the arena of new clinical program development.
PBN: How do these system-level initiatives affect the hospitals’ competitiveness?
KLEIN: A hospital system that can provide relevant health care to its community, including appropriate levels of tertiary and quaternary care, and can provide this care with best outcomes and in the most efficient and effective way, is inherently a highly competitive health care system. I expect a system approach to performance improvement, therefore, to clearly further improve the competitiveness of each of Lifespan’s affiliates.
PBN: What is physician “networking”?
KLEIN: Perhaps one of the greatest challenges all hospitals and health systems face is to maintain their relevance to practicing physicians. In my responsibility for “physician networking,” I hope to identify the important strategic issues that Lifespan and its affiliates must face in maintaining the most robust relationships possible with the physicians in the community. After all, [physicians] are responsible for a significant portion of health care delivery in Rhode Island.
