by Luanne Rife, The Roanoke Times
The American Hospital Association on Sunday announced Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Howell Agee will lead its board of trustees in 2018.
“It’s an honor for all of us. I’m so humbled,” Agee said in a phone interview following the announcement at the association’s leadership conference in San Diego.
About 5,000 hospitals and health care systems, and 43,000 individuals belong to the association.
Agee said one of the challenges in leading an organization that includes rural health systems in Montana and worldwide giants, such as HCA, is finding advocacy issues that members can support.
“Like this week, violence and how it affects health care is a place where we have common ground,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what a hospital’s business model is. We all have a sacred trust with our communities. When we keep that as a focus, we can find common ground.”
Agee said she will bring to the chairmanship the same collaborative style that she uses at Carilion.
Agee became CEO and president of the clinic in 2011, following the controversial leadership of Dr. Ed Murphy who changed the collection of seven hospitals and primary care practices into an integrated health care system.
She has been credited with calming the tension that resulted from the transition and has led Carilion as it continues to expand its health care services and its relationship with Virginia Tech through the medical school and research institute.
Agee was named to the American Hospital Association board two years ago, and has served on the organization’s Health Care Systems Governing Council, Regional Policy Board and as a commissioner to the The Joint Commission board.
To earn the nod as chairwoman-elect, Agee said, she had to go through a rigorous nomination process, sitting for interviews and writing a white paper.
She will take the helm in 2018 and expects that she will be required to travel frequently and to advocate for health care issues before Congress. The association has regions that meet regularly to advance issues that are then forwarded to the national board.
Agee, 63, was born in Roanoke and began her career in the 1970s as a nurse, then moved through medical administration roles. She also serves on the boards of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, the Coalition to Protect America’s Healthcare, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, the Virginia Business Council and Healthcare Realty.
