Brian Gragnolati, president/CEO of Suburban Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, has been named senior vice president of the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS). In his new position, Gragnolati will head Johns Hopkins Medicine’s (JHM) Community Division, a newly established office designed to ensure greater system-wide clinical integration. The effective date of the appointment is March 1, 2011.

Gragnolati’s appointment follows similar recent moves by JHM to position itself to more effectively and efficiently deal with health care reform initiatives (http://bit.ly/icJw4r) an expanding JHHS health care delivery system, and a marked growth in its international arm, Johns Hopkins Medicine International (http://bit.ly/f2Wk1O).

“System-wide clinical integration, specifically with our community-based hospitals is necessary to allow us to build a smoothly coordinated network of services for our patients and our physicians,” says Edward D. Miller, M.D., dean and CEO of JHM. “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Brian Gragnolati as senior vice president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and the head of our Community Division because he has the skills and vision to make this happen.” 

The Community Division’s primary purpose will be to manage relationships and connections that are common to JHM’s community hospitals and their markets. The first phase of this restructuring will include the development of a Community Division Coordinating Council; transition of the responsibility of managing relationships of all of JHM’s affiliate community hospitals to this division; and formation of work groups to address the necessary changes in planning, financial reporting, decision-making processes and communication. During this time, Gragnolati will continue in his role as president/CEO of Suburban Hospital and will work closely with the presidents of Howard County General Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

Led by Gragnolati, the Community Division Coordinating Council will be made up of senior leaders from the three community hospitals, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, Hopkins’ Clinical Practice Association, Johns Hopkins HealthCare, both homecare companies, community-based ambulatory care and several support functions, such as finance, IT, legal, planning and marketing. Going forward any acquired or affiliated community hospital will report under the Community Division.

 “This is one more important piece to the puzzle as we work to ensure access to quality care and integration of all our services,” say Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of JHM. “Our aim is to create a system that supports significant growth in our domestic clinical delivery system by leveraging our intellectual capital, like research and education. Brian’s leadership will help us better integrate services to be more cost effective, to be more competitive and to add greater value to the communities we serve.”

 “The JHM Community Division will,” says Gragnolati, “provide a single infrastructure that aligns all of the parts in the Johns Hopkins Medicine clinical delivery network that are focused on community medicine into a cohesive system of care that delivers the right care at the right place, time and cost to patients, all while advancing the organization's tripartite mission.”

Over the past 10 years, Gragnolati has strategically led Suburban Hospital Healthcare System and Suburban Hospital, partnering with the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Sibley Memorial Hospital and others to coordinate more efficient care for patients throughout Maryland. His ability to govern and motivate have led him to important roles in local and national health care organizations. A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, he is a past chairman of the Metro Governing Council of the American Hospital Association and is a delegate on the Regional 3 Policy Board. He is the past chair of the Community Hospitals Connection of the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA), served on the council of financial policy and is a member of the MHA executive committee and the board of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.

Gragnolati  has held a number of key executive positions at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont (now Fletcher Allen Healthcare in Burlington, Vermont), the teaching hospital associated with the University of Vermont.  Before joining Suburban, he was president and CEO of York Hospital, a 580-bed teaching hospital, and senior vice president of WellSpan Health, an integrated health care system based in York, Pennsylvania. During his tenure, York Hospital earned the distinction of "100 Top Hospitals" for five consecutive years.

He earned a B.S. degree in Health Systems Analysis from the University of Connecticut and an M.B.A. degree from Western New England College in Massachusetts. He received an executive leadership certificate from the JFK School at Harvard University.

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