Search ended for new Hoag CEO

Elia Powers

Dr. Richard Afable, a high-ranking administrator for a major East

Coast health system, is set to become the next president and chief

executive officer of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

Afable, 51, will replace current Chief Executive Michael Stephens,

who is stepping down this summer after 30 years of service.

A search committee, led by Dick Ortwein, chairman of Hoag

Hospital’s board of directors, notified Afable of its decision last

week. He is scheduled to begin Aug. 15.

“There’s a significant fit between my goals in health-care

delivery and what Hoag wants to accomplish,” Afable said. “They are

looking for a strategic planner and somebody who will provide

leadership ... I have vision in promoting the hospital’s mission.”

For the past six years, Afable has been executive vice president

and chief medical officer at Catholic Health East, a

Pennsylvania-based health system that manages a variety of hospitals

and long-term care facilities on the Eastern seaboard.

Afable’s main responsibilities include monitoring clinical

performance, managing information systems, cultivating

physician-hospital relations and looking after patient safety issues.

Before joining Catholic Health East, Afable was the founder and

president-CEO of Preferred Physician Partners, a company that

supported physician groups and provider networks.

Ortwein said the search committee -- with the help of an outside

executive search firm -- took almost a year to narrow a list of about

340 resumes. After meeting twice with Afable, the choice became

clear, Ortwein said.

“One of the things that attracted us was a comment that this was a

continuation of his calling,” Ortwein said. “It wasn’t just another

job for him.”

Ortwein said Afable is joining Hoag at a significant time.

“For our hospital to grow to where we want it to be, we need

someone who can adapt to the changes taking place,” he said.

Many of those changes involve hospital expansion. The board is

overseeing more than $1 billion in capital improvement projects that

includes a women’s pavilion set to open this fall and a new home for

the Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute.

Ortwein said he is confident Afable will be able to manage

day-to-day operations and oversee construction projects while keeping

in mind the hospital’s larger mission.

Afable, a former physician who specialized in internal medicine

and geriatrics for 15 years, said it’s a “privilege” to provide

patient care. As a measure to improve the patient experience at Hoag,

he said he would like to see the hospital plan medical tests with the

patient’s schedule in mind rather than have procedures conform to the

hospital’s schedule.

Nursing shortages and an impending physician shortage were among

the issues Afable said would be paramount during the start of his

Hoag tenure.

His first priority: Getting acclimated to the hospital’s

infrastructure.

“Hoag has been successful in serving its community,” he said. “The

last thing I want to do is change something for change’s sake.”

Afable said he has spoken to Stephens about the position and is

looking forward to continuing the outgoing CEO’s legacy.

“Following Stephens isn’t an easy task for anyone,” Ortwein said.

“He’s done a great job to form the culture and values of Hoag.”

Afable said he and his family plan to move to Orange County in

early August.