Released by the Florida Hospital Association ….
Rueben’s legacy includes nationally recognized hospital quality, patient safety programs.
FHA Board launches national search for new president and CEO
Tallahassee, FL – After 11 years leading the Florida Hospital Association (FHA), its President, Bruce Rueben, a national leader in hospital quality and patient safety and a tireless advocate for greater health care access, has announced his plans to retire at the end of the year.
During his time leading FHA, Rueben created innovative quality programs that significantly improved care, saved lives and reduced costs. Under his leadership, Florida’s hospitals became first in the nation to publicly report readmissions rates by hospital and created a national model for surgical quality in partnership with the American College of Surgeons. These efforts set in motion Florida’s progress in reducing surgical complications, infections and readmissions, and culminated with FHA being awarded the prestigious American Hospital Association Dick Davidson Quality Milestone Award.
“Bruce’s positive impact on health care in Florida will continue for years to come,” said Roger Kirk, president and CEO of Bethesda Health and FHA Board Chair. “The programs implemented under Bruce’s leadership will continue improving care, saving lives and increasing the value. He has truly left a lasting mark on our state and all Floridians should be grateful for his efforts to increase access to high quality care.”
In addition to his decade of leadership at the Florida Hospital Association, Rueben served as president of the Minnesota Hospital Association and Maine Hospital Association and as a senior leader of the Virginia Hospital Association.
While in Minnesota, he led Minnesota hospitals into the national health policy arena with pioneering work in patient safety, transparency and accountability. Rueben formed the nationally recognized Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety (MAPS), which began some of the nation’s earliest health care collaborative work. Under Rueben’s leadership, MAPS received the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award from the Joint Commission in 2006. Rueben designed and championed the state’s adverse health event law and reporting system, making Minnesota the first state in the nation to publicly report adverse health events. And, he negotiated a first-of-its-kind agreement between hospitals and the Minnesota Attorney General to establish discounts for the uninsured and standards for debt collection practices.
In Maine, he advocated for hospital tax reforms, ended mandated rate setting and led a landmark study on the social and economic impact of health care on Maine communities, redesigning the financing approach to Maine’s Medicaid program.
“Bruce is a true statesman. He was one of the first hospital leaders in the nation to recognize the need for collaboration among hospitals when it came to efforts to improve quality. Bruce urged hospitals to work not as competitors but as partners in ensuring patient safety, and he is a firm supporter of transparency so that patients can be partners in these efforts to improve,” said Rick Pollack, President and CEO of the American Hospital Association.
The FHA Board of Directors has selected Crystal Stickle, FHA executive vice president, to serve as interim president effective January 1, 2020. WittKiefer is conducting a national search with the goal of naming a permanent leader by Spring 2020.
About the Florida Hospital Association
The Florida Hospital Association comprises over 200 hospitals and health systems from across the state. Through representation and advocacy, education, and informational services, we support the mission of our members to provide the highest quality of care to the patients we serve. For more information, visit www.fha.org.