Jeffrey Immelt
Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt joins Radiology Partners board of directors
February 27, 2018
by John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter
Former GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt has joined the board of directors of Radiology Partners.
Immelt, who retired from GE in October after heading it for 16 years, will work with seven other members to oversee the affairs of the California-based physician-led and physician-owned radiology practice, providing his experience as a business and health care leader, as well as insight on how to further develop and improve technology and physician skills and practices.
“We believe that in order for us to reach our full potential, we have to grow distinctively in developing, attracting, maintaining and creating the best physician leaders,” Rich Whitney, CEO of Radiology Partners, told HCB News. “There are not a lot of organizations, unfortunately, in our health care system that have done much in this area. For us, that’s a critical linchpin. We’re a physician-led practice. Physicians typically don’t get a lot of formal leadership training, so it’s an area where we’re investing heavily in leadership academies and programs for our physicians. Jeff spent many years within GE and leading GE globally. There are very few organizations in the same realm in terms of the investments they make and in the deliberate nature of all their leadership development programs. It’s really great to have that kind of context and perspective on our board.”
Immelt ascended to the role of CEO after serving as president and CEO of GE Medical Systems, now known as GE Healthcare, where his work helped transform the company into a $20 billion leader in imaging and information technology.
As head of the complete enterprise, Immelt oversaw the work of more than 300,000 employees spread across 170 countries, and led efforts to invest in radiology and physician leadership.
Much of his focus involved advancing technology and digitizing health care and a variety of other industries, a trait that RP hopes will assist it in maximizing the full potential of new technologies.
“As we look forward to the next decade, with the coming advent of machine technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, we are navigating how to take advantage of those emerging technologies to add more services, to significantly advance the quality and the value of the services that we offer,” said Whitney. “At the same time, we hope to position ourselves maximally from a strategic standpoint as those technologies will likely be very disruptive to the health care system overall and certainly, by the nature of our work, radiology is one of those areas where technology is likely to be used earlier than in other places.”
In addition, Immelt brings a depth of relationships with individuals and organizations that Whitney says RP “might otherwise have had a more difficult time getting access to. That opens up opportunities, because I think a number of the things we’re working on right now can be really exciting to a lot of different organizations, hospital systems, payors, the government and more.”
Other members of the board include radiologist William R. Brody, former president of Johns Hopkins University; Robert Sheehy, co-founder and CEO of Bright Health and former CEO of UnitedHealthcare; former Obama policy director Kavita Patel; Joseph C. Mello, COO of DaVita Medical Group; Rodney S. Owen, president and board chair at Scottsdale Medical Imaging and co-executive vice president of Southwest Diagnostic Imaging; and Mohamad Makhzoumi, general partner and global head of New Enterprise Associates’ health care services and health information technology investment practice.
Earlier this month, Immelt was also appointed to serve as chairman for the Board of Directors of athenahealth, a provider of network-enabled services for hospital and ambulatory clients.
“Having considered a number of highly qualified candidates, the Board determined that Jeff’s deep expertise and broad relationships in the healthcare industry, combined with his drive for industry transformation through innovation, ideally position him to be a great partner to the Board and management team as we work to profitably grow and scale the Company and drive value creation,” said Dev Ittycheria, chair of athenahealth Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, in a statement at the time.
Immelt, who retired from GE in October after heading it for 16 years, will work with seven other members to oversee the affairs of the California-based physician-led and physician-owned radiology practice, providing his experience as a business and health care leader, as well as insight on how to further develop and improve technology and physician skills and practices.
“We believe that in order for us to reach our full potential, we have to grow distinctively in developing, attracting, maintaining and creating the best physician leaders,” Rich Whitney, CEO of Radiology Partners, told HCB News. “There are not a lot of organizations, unfortunately, in our health care system that have done much in this area. For us, that’s a critical linchpin. We’re a physician-led practice. Physicians typically don’t get a lot of formal leadership training, so it’s an area where we’re investing heavily in leadership academies and programs for our physicians. Jeff spent many years within GE and leading GE globally. There are very few organizations in the same realm in terms of the investments they make and in the deliberate nature of all their leadership development programs. It’s really great to have that kind of context and perspective on our board.”
Immelt ascended to the role of CEO after serving as president and CEO of GE Medical Systems, now known as GE Healthcare, where his work helped transform the company into a $20 billion leader in imaging and information technology.
As head of the complete enterprise, Immelt oversaw the work of more than 300,000 employees spread across 170 countries, and led efforts to invest in radiology and physician leadership.
Much of his focus involved advancing technology and digitizing health care and a variety of other industries, a trait that RP hopes will assist it in maximizing the full potential of new technologies.
“As we look forward to the next decade, with the coming advent of machine technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, we are navigating how to take advantage of those emerging technologies to add more services, to significantly advance the quality and the value of the services that we offer,” said Whitney. “At the same time, we hope to position ourselves maximally from a strategic standpoint as those technologies will likely be very disruptive to the health care system overall and certainly, by the nature of our work, radiology is one of those areas where technology is likely to be used earlier than in other places.”
In addition, Immelt brings a depth of relationships with individuals and organizations that Whitney says RP “might otherwise have had a more difficult time getting access to. That opens up opportunities, because I think a number of the things we’re working on right now can be really exciting to a lot of different organizations, hospital systems, payors, the government and more.”
Other members of the board include radiologist William R. Brody, former president of Johns Hopkins University; Robert Sheehy, co-founder and CEO of Bright Health and former CEO of UnitedHealthcare; former Obama policy director Kavita Patel; Joseph C. Mello, COO of DaVita Medical Group; Rodney S. Owen, president and board chair at Scottsdale Medical Imaging and co-executive vice president of Southwest Diagnostic Imaging; and Mohamad Makhzoumi, general partner and global head of New Enterprise Associates’ health care services and health information technology investment practice.
Earlier this month, Immelt was also appointed to serve as chairman for the Board of Directors of athenahealth, a provider of network-enabled services for hospital and ambulatory clients.
“Having considered a number of highly qualified candidates, the Board determined that Jeff’s deep expertise and broad relationships in the healthcare industry, combined with his drive for industry transformation through innovation, ideally position him to be a great partner to the Board and management team as we work to profitably grow and scale the Company and drive value creation,” said Dev Ittycheria, chair of athenahealth Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, in a statement at the time.