Health Care Heroes 2025
COMMUNITY OUTREACH (individual): Gregory Mercurio
American Shared Hospital Services senior vice president of radiation oncology;
Precision Radiation Oncology of Rhode Island CEO
How have you helped boost the quality of access to health care? I have developed expertise in creating partnerships with technology sectors and physicians, and end users of the technologies (hospitals, surgical centers, clinicians, etc.) to decentralize the availability of capital-intensive, state-of-the-art technology from major urban medical centers to more rural community hospitals. This has enhanced local community physician and patient access to technology [that] otherwise may not have locally been available.
Collaboration drives significant energy and non-energy benefits with Rhode Island Energy
With four major hospital campuses, multiple offsite facilities (ambulatory care, MRI buildings, offices) and buildings…
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What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? Finding properly qualified physician and allied health provider applicants in Rhode Island who are willing to move here for high-paying, highly technical patient care opportunities. The state has a poor reputation for ease of doing business and poor health insurance reimbursement, making it most difficult to offer competitive compensation and relocation packages.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? Legislation needs to be passed improving health insurance payments, including Medicaid, as they must be on par with neighboring states. As a result of low reimbursement, it’s hard to recruit, hire and maintain employment of quality physicians and allied health personnel and acquire technology necessary to compete with that which readily is available in our bordering states. We also need a health care business czar to coordinate the growth of our health care facilities in a cooperative and collaborative manner.
Are you confident patient access and quality of care will improve in Rhode Island over the next five years? Why or why not? I’m cautiously optimistic, but the “fix” is multifactorial and there is no one person who has the power to do what is required.
