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April 16, 2003
Ralph W. Muller Appointed Chief
Executive Officer of the University of Pennsylvania
Health System
(Philadelphia,
PA) - Ralph W. Muller has been named Chief Executive
Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System,
effective July 1, 2003. Muller, formerly President and
Chief Executive Officer of the University of Chicago
Hospitals & Health System, will succeed Robert D. Martin,
PhD, who announced earlier this year his intention to
step down. Muller will begin to work with UPHS in a
transitional capacity beginning May 1.
"I am delighted that Ralph has agreed
to assume this vital leadership position within PENN
Medicine," said Dr. Arthur H. Rubenstein, Executive
Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for
the Health System and Dean of the School of Medicine,
in announcing the appointment. "Ralph's dedication to
patient-centered care and effectiveness in building
and leading a world-class clinical delivery organization,
his leadership in national and state legislative affairs
and health care policy organizations, and his strategic
vision make him the ideal executive to lead our Health
System."
As Chief Executive Officer, Muller will
have management responsibility for the operational effectiveness
and financial health of the University of Pennsylvania
Health System - a $1.7 billion provider community that
includes four hospitals [the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, University of
Pennsylvania Medical Center-Presbyterian, and Phoenixville
Hospital], a faculty practice plan, a primary-care provider
network, three multispecialty satellite facilities,
and home healthcare, hospice and long-term care. Muller
will also be responsible for further strengthening the
integrated organization, and working with other health
care, research and industry groups, as well as government
leaders and business coalitions.
"I look forward to contributing to one
of the nation's most respected academic health systems,
and eagerly anticipate the intellectual breadth and
excitement that is part of a health system related to
an excellent medical school and a great University,"
said Muller. "There's a certain vibrancy that comes
from being surrounded by superb faculty, students and
staff."
One of Muller's top priorities will be
to partner with Dr. Rubenstein in implementing the Strategic
Plan for PENN Medicine. Another will be to work with
his management team to further strengthen the patient-focused
approach to care, and explore additional opportunities
for growth that are consistent with financial realities
and marketplace factors.
Muller's distinguished, 28-year career
in health care administration has set the stage for
his extensive knowledge of the multiple and complex
challenges faced by today's urban-based academic health
systems. Indeed, since the 1990s, Muller's voice has
been at the forefront of the national dialogue and debate
on such important health-policy issues as the social
role of teaching hospitals and medical schools, federal/state
payments for patient care and care of the uninsured,
and the creation of patient-oriented medical care systems.
Muller's career in academic medicine began
in 1985 when he was named Vice President for the University
of Chicago's Hospitals and Deputy Dean of Biological
Sciences. (Muller's association with the Hospitals began
five years earlier when he was recruited by the University
of Chicago to be Director of Budget and Financial Planning.)
In 1986, following the creation of a new corporate entity
for the health services operations, Muller was named
President and Chief Executive Officer of the University
of Chicago Hospitals & Health System (UCHHS) - a position
he held for 15 years.
During Muller's leadership, UCHHS achieved
significant improvements in patient-care services, as
expressed in higher levels of patient satisfaction and
an increase in patient revenue of more than 500 percent.
The Hospitals' complex was also greatly expanded with
the construction of several new facilities, including
a highly successful 500,000 sq.ft. ambulatory care center
(Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine) and the soon-to-open
University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. Additional
achievements included the creation of the University
of Chicago Hospitals Academy, an inhouse center for
employee training that has become a national model for
staff education; and significant contributions from
the Hospitals to the University's Academic Renewal Fund
to support its academic mission.
On the national front, Muller was named
(in May 2001) to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
(MedPAC), an independent federal body that advises the
U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program.
From 1999-2000, Muller served as Chairman of the Association
of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the umbrella advocacy
organization that represents the interests of the 141
accredited medical schools in the U.S. and Canada, and
the nation's 400 major teaching hospitals. In that role,
Muller partnered with the AAMC's leadership to advocate
for increased research funding and improvements to medical
education, as well as the development of a new coalition
of health care providers to improve access to care for
the under-insured. Muller has held a number of other
leadership positions in prestigious national organizations
-- including Chair of the AAMC's Council of Teaching
Hospitals and Health Systems, Vice-Chair of the Board
of the University HealthSystem Consortium, and Chair
of the Board of the National Opinion Research Center,
in Chicago. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
Prior to launching his career in healthcare,
Muller held executive positions in the state government
of Massachusetts - including Budget Director and, later,
Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Welfare
where he was responsible for the state Medicaid program.
He was a teaching Fellow at Harvard University, where
he earned his MA degree in government. He obtained a
BA in economics, magna cum laude, from Syracuse University.
Most recently, Muller led a comparative
study of U.S. and British health care systems for the
King's Fund, a London-based healthcare foundation. Since
2002, he has served as a director of Stockamp & Associates,
a national firm that specializes in helping non-profit
health institutions improve their revenues and patient
care programs.
Muller and his wife, Susan, will relocate
to the Philadelphia region. The Mullers have two children:
Peter, a recent graduate of Duke University who now
works in health care in Washington, DC; and Elisabeth,
a junior at the University of Pennsylvania.
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