Following a six-month national search, the Elliot Health System Board of Directors is proud to announce the appointment of James L. Woodward as chief executive officer.
Woodward has spent the last 7-plus years serving as president and CEO of Meriter Health Services in Madison, Wisconsin. The $800 million, multi-entity health system consists of Meriter Hospital (448-bed community teaching hospital; fifth largest in Wisconsin), Meriter Home Health, Meriter Medical Laboratories, Meriter Foundation, Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation and Meriter Medical Group, which includes 150 employed providers, who practice at 10 clinic locations throughout the region.
During his tenure at Meriter, Woodward led the organization to many achievements, including but not limited to the creation of Meriter Medical Group; a bond rating increase to A+ from Standard and Poors; transitioning to a Patient Centered Medical Home model of care delivery; implementing EPIC IT platform and achieving “Most Wired” designation from Modern Healthcare; facilitating a culture change to improve quality, outcomes and satisfaction scores, which led to multiple accolades (i.e., NRC’s “Best Practice Award”, Thomson Reuters’ Top 100 Hospital”, etc.); completing formal affiliations with The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation and finally, the affiliation with UnityPoint Health, a 15-hospital system based in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Woodward brings over 25 years of health care leadership experience to The Elliot, having served in various positions and diverse settings prior to joining Meriter. Upon graduating from George Washington University with a B.A. degree and a Master’s in Health Services Administration, he spent several years as an operations executive at Columbia Hospital for Women Medical Center in Washington, DC. He then accepted a COO role at Kent General Hospital in Dover, Delaware, and was responsible for acquiring a competing hospital to create the two-hospital system, Bayhealth Medical Center, of which he became executive vice president and COO. After 8-1/2 years with Bayhealth, Woodward was appointed to his first president role with Winchester Medical Center, a 411-bed community hospital that was part of the three-hospital system, Valley Health in Winchester, Virginia. Several years later, he was recruited to Meriter Health Services.
Woodward is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and also actively participates in healthcare policy development via his role as a delegate of the American Hospital Association’s Regional Policy Board and member of the Wisconsin Hospital Association Board. His official start date is August 4, 2014.
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