Wellmont CEO Accepts Job With Cape Cod Health System

By Gary Gray
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: May 28, 2008

Dr. Richard Salluzzo, who is credited with much of Wellmont Health System’s growth and financial stability over the past four years, is stepping down as the system’s chief executive officer.
Salluzzo has been named president and chief executive officer of Cape Cod Healthcare Inc. in Hyannis, Mass. He will assume the post in July.
Salluzzo succeeded Eddie George as Wellmont’s CEO in November 2004. He was serving as CEO and chief medical officer of Conemaugh Health System in Johnstown, Pa., when he took the Wellmont post.
Lee Shillito, chairman of Wellmont’s board of directors, said Salluzzo notified him of the job change on Friday.
“We spent a lot of time talking over the weekend,” Shillito said Tuesday. “In the end, it was a family decision, and in my book that trumps everything.”
A board meeting was called Tuesday, and Wellmont officials plan to immediately begin a nationwide search for a replacement.
“We will probably name an interim chief executive officer in short time because we have many capable men and women around us now,” Shillito said. “We will be looking for someone who is absolutely dedicated. Usually, a search for a chief executive officer takes from six to 12 months, so we’ll tee it up and see what happens.”
Salluzzo is returning to his New England roots. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Boston’s Tufts University School of Medicine, where his youngest daughter now attends medical school. His parents still live in the region.
“I spent a lot of time on Cape Cod in my younger years and had always hoped to return,” he said in a news release. “The chance to serve as CEO of the Cape’s leading health-care system was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I could not pass up.”
Since Salluzzo took the Wellmont job in 2004, the health system has experienced a significant financial turnaround, according to Wellmont officials. When he began, the system’s net cumulative loss from 2000 to 2004 was $13 million. The ledger changed dramatically from 2005 to 2008, when the system saw a cumulative gain of $142 million, according to Wellmont.
Meanwhile, operating costs for years 2000 to 2004 produced a $40 million loss when Salluzzo entered the picture. From 2005 to 2008, however, there was a $45 million gain.
Shillito said Salluzzo has committed to work with Wellmont leaders in the coming weeks and months to ensure a seamless transition, and he praised Salluzzo for his contributions.
“He led our health system from operational uncertainty to financial stability, and his vision of clinically excellent, customer-focused health care is being realized in our member hospitals,” Shillito said.
Wellmont Health System provides health-care services for Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky and is comprised of 14 owned and affiliated hospitals.
The health system was formed in July 1996 with the merger of Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., and Bristol Regional Medical Center. 
Wellmont includes more than 1,400 licensed beds and employs 6,000, including nearly 1,000 physicians.
The health system’s number of owned and affiliated hospitals has grown from six to 14 over the past four years and net revenue grew from $500 million to $850 million annually.
Recently, Wellmont opened a $4.5 million, 12,000-square-foot imaging center off Volunteer Parkway in Bristol, Tenn. It also is about to open a $13.8 million expansion to the emergency room at BRMC. The expansion, which began under Salluzzo’s leadership, will increase the number of patients seen each year from 36,000 to 60,000.
Other Wellmont projects under way include an imaging center in Kingsport and a care center in Piney Flats, Tenn.
In 2007, Modern Healthcare Magazine ranked Salluzzo among the nation’s 100 most powerful people in health care. In 2008, the magazine ranked him the country’s 11th most powerful physician executive.
“It has been my distinct privilege to partner with the board members, physicians and employees of the Wellmont system for these past three-and-a-half years,” Salluzzo said in the release. “Together, we have transformed this organization into the Tri-State region’s leading health-care system. The Wellmont Health System is a clinically excellent, financially strong organization well positioned for years of continued growth and success.”
Salluzzo will have some work to do when he takes over in Cape Cod. The system has had a downturn in some areas, resulting in a $17 million loss from operations in the first seven months of this fiscal year.
With more than 400 physicians, 4,600 employees and 1,000 volunteers, Cape Cod Healthcare includes two acute-care hospitals, the largest home health services agency on the Cape, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, an assisted living facility and numerous health programs.

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