St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center has tapped a Midwestern doctor with a business background to lead the health care provider in a newly created position of senior vice president and chief physician executive.
In his new role Dr. Arthur W. DeTore, of West Hartford, will be responsible for developing physician integration strategies as well as relationship models to further enhance the cohesion between physicians and Saint Francis Care.
His duties will include the establishment of strategic alliances with primary care physician organizations, development of collaborative primary care group practice offerings, physician recruitment, creation of a medical home model, and ambulatory care center facility designs.
He is also an expert in service line development.
DeTore’s appointment comes at a time when hospitals are competing with each other to broaden their primary base, as both state and federal reform initiatives put more emphasis on the role of physicians.
It also comes at a time when primary care doctors in Connecticut, who have traditionally practiced in small, independent groups, are increasingly looking to partner with larger organizations as they face challenges implementing health information technology and other costly initiatives required by modern day medicine.
DeTore most recently served as executive vice president of strategic direction and business development at Parkview Health, in Fort Wayne, Ind., a community health system serving northeast Indiana. At the hospital DeTore was responsible for strategic leadership and planning for a tertiary medical center, four community hospitals, a specialty orthopedic hospital, and 200 employed physicians.
Dr. DeTore, who received his medical degree from the Tufts University School of Medicine, and an executive master of business administration degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, also held a senior executive positions at Lincoln Re, a life reinsurance organization.
