Ascension Health's President Joseph Impicciche will take on the role of transitional president and CEO starting July 1, the Catholic healthcare giant announced Tuesday .
Impicciche has been Ascension's president and chief operating officer since January and served as executive vice president and general counsel for the health system since 2004.
“Joe is a gifted and talented servant leader, and the Board and I believe his wisdom, experience and steadfast commitment to our Mission are needed at this time to sustain and grow our health ministry,” said longtime Ascension CEO Anthony Tersigni in a statement.
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As was previously announced, Tersigni will transition to serve as a member of the executive committee of Ascension's healthcare investment fund Ascension Capital. He will also provide consultative services to Ascension's board and continue his work with the Global Solidarity Fund.
The leadership moves also sparked a chain of changes in the top leadership team. Among them:
Anthony Speranzo will become president and CEO of Ascension Capital. He was previously executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Elizabeth Foshage will become executive vice president and chief financial officer. She previously served in a number of financial positions since joining Ascension when it formed in 1999.
Craig Cordola will become executive vice president and chief operating officer. He previously served as senior vice president of Memorial Hermann Health System in southeast Texas and president of its Central/West region.
Eduardo Conrado will become executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer. He previously served on the Ascension board of directors from 2014 to 2018 before becoming Ascension's executive vice president and chief digital officer in September.
Christine Kocot McCoy became Ascension's general counsel in January. She has previously served as deputy general counsel.
Tersigni has led the health system for more than 15 years, becoming CEO of Ascension Health in 2004 after having served as chief operating officer since 2001. When Ascension was formed in 2012 as a parent organization of Ascension Health and its other subsidiaries, Tersigni became its first CEO.
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Tersigni is credited with more fully integrating the health system in 2015 and for leading an effort to review and update Ascension's Strategic Direction agenda. He was also a driver of the idea for Ascension to pursue a "Dual Transformation model," officials said in a statement. Last year, Ascension and Providence St. Joseph Health were reportedly in merger talks, but those negotiations were ultimately discontinued.
In recent months, Ascension has been ramping up efforts to retool its care delivery strategy to trim losses, making cuts to its inpatient offerings while pushing more resources to ambulatory settings. “The mindset has to change from inpatient care to 'How do we move away from our campuses and move into the community and move into settings that are easier to access, cheaper, quicker and have the same quality and safety and outcome standards?'” Tersigni said last year.
