Catholic Health Services hires three new executives

Catholic Health Services said it hired three key executives recently for its physician partners groups.

Dr. Christopher Windham has joined as vice president and chief medical officer of CHS Physician Partners, the health system’s network of 1,800 physicians. CHS also named Steven H. Stepp vice president of population health analytics at Physician Partners.

Also, Sunny P. Chiu will start on May 1 as chief administrative officer for the employed physician group, which includes about 250 physicians.

Chiu served recently as chief administrative officer for Mount Sinai Health Partners and as a vice president for its community practice unit. Previously, he was an executive director at Northwell.

Windham, a surgical oncologist, was chief of oncology services and held the E.A. Morris Endowed Chair of Oncology for Cone Health Cancer Centers in Greensboro, North Carolina. At Cone Health, Windham led a physician task force to redesign the compensation system to address quality metrics, engagement and other measures.

Windham, who started in the first quarter, said in an interview “Coordinating care across health care anywhere, is very challenging.” He said the more coordinated a system is, the “more accommodating it is for patients.”

Stepp was previously director of informatics and decision support at WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina.  He led the health system’s data and analytics team. Previously, Stepp was director of business intelligence and engineering for UPMC Pinnacle, a health system that serves 10 counties in Pennsylvania.

New York’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program has created opportunities for health systems such as CHS to “really find value in our data,” Stepp said in an interview.

“Our care team has the metrics to help deliver better care,” said Stepp, who also started in the first quarter.

New York, through DSRIP, has tied Medicaid payments to better patient outcomes.

The $8 billion program, phased in beginning in 2014, rewards health systems for investing in projects that focus on clinical improvements to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital, and especially to avoid costly visits to the emergency room.

Rockville Centre-based Catholic Health Services operates six hospitals on Long Island.