Yale New Haven Hospital has picked a longtime healthcare executive to serve as its new chief operating officer.
Michael D. Holmes, who originally joined the hospital as senior vice president of operations in 2013, has been a senior executive in the health industry for more than three decades.
“It is a very large institution, and my first priority is ensuring we continue to provide the safest and highest quality environment for patients,” Holmes said.
Holmes is filling a vacancy created when Dr. Keith B. Churchwell was promoted to president.
Holmes starts his new position on Monday, but he has been handling some of the job’s duties for the past couple of months.
Prior to his promotion, Holmes served as the hospital’s incident commander during crises such as COVID-19, and he will continue to be responsible for crisis management.
Holmes led the team that converted 200 hospital beds and 28 patient care units to accommodate patients with the virus. Since the pandemic began, the hospital has treated more than 4,500 COVID-19 positive patients.
“I will continue to manage our response to the pandemic,” Holmes said. “We are in the second wave, and we have slightly under 200 patients with COVID in our hospital now. I am also managing our testing sites and contact tracing efforts.”
He has been focused on the rollout of vaccinations to employees, and more recently, to the community.
Holmes told New Haven BIZ this week he also wants to work to ensure everyone, regardless of race, background or ethnicity, has access to quality healthcare.
“Quite a few populations, such as people of color, have experienced barriers, and I want to work to eliminate those barriers,” Holmes said.
In his new role, Holmes also will oversee the hospital’s budget mitigation efforts.
The hospital is part of the Yale New Haven Health system, which also includes Connecticut hospitals in Bridgeport, Greenwich and New London. The system overall has been negatively impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, as patients with non-COVID health issues delayed care for months.
Holmes will also oversee Yale New Haven Hospital’s financial relationship with the Yale School of Medicine. Holmes will be in charge of clinical services, such as in the areas of behavioral health, emergency medicine, laboratory services, pathology and respiratory care.
During his tenure with the hospital, Holmes helped lead the integration of the Hospital of Saint Raphael into the Yale New Haven Hospital campus. Today, the two campuses have a combined 1,541 beds.
Before Holmes came to Yale, he had leadership positions in health care systems in Illinois, Florida and Ohio.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
