Mercy promotes Price to CEO role

8/5/2010

Ms. Price now has overall responsibility for the nonprofit Mercy system, a prominent player in northwest Ohio's health-care delivery system with more than 7,300 employees and net revenues of nearly $900 million.

Its hospitals are Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, Mercy Children's Hospital, Mercy St. Anne Hospital, Mercy St. Charles Hospital, Mercy Tiffin Hospital, Mercy Willard Hospital, and Mercy Hospital of Defiance.

Ms. Price, 51, said she will continue Mercy's emphasis on quality of care, patient satisfaction, and good relations with the system's 2,300 medical staffers.

Asked what her biggest immediate challenge is, she has a quick answer: “Adjusting to what's happening in health-care reform.”

For example, she noted, under the new federal law, hospitals and physicians will not be allowed to co-own medical facilities, although those already in operation will be grandfathered.

Before arriving at Mercy last fall, Ms. Price was executive vice president and chief operating officer at Sparrow Health System in Lansing. She had also filled senior executive roles at Hurley Medical Center in Flint and Children's National Medical Center in Washington.

Ms. Price has a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Michigan and a master's in health administration from Tulane University. She and her husband, Dr. Edward Johnson, have four children, all teens and younger. Dr. Johnson, an internist, is in the process of relocating to northwest Ohio from Flint.

Ms. Price replaces Steven L. Mickus, who has moved to the position of chief operating officer of Catholic Healthcare Partners, Mercy's parent organization.