The 50 most influential physician leaders, according to Modern Healthcare

HHS Secretary Tom Price topped Modern Healthcare's 2017 list of the "50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders."

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For the 13th annual list, Modern Healthcare accepted nominations for physician executives or leaders in the health care industry who "stand out for the scope of their executive responsibilities, personal achievements, innovation, and commitment to their communities." From a list of 150 finalists, Modern Healthcare compiled its final ranking of 50 leaders, half of which is based on readers' votes and half of which is based on input from Modern Healthcare's senior editors.

Who made the list

According to Modern Healthcare, Price earned the top spot given his "leadership in shepherding the [American Health Care Act] and his expected role in overseeing value-based payment innovations."

In addition to Price, the top 10 physician leaders on the list include:

• John Noseworthy, president and CEO of the Mayo Clinic (No. 2);
• David Feinberg, president and CEO of Geisinger Health System (No. 3);
• Rodney Hochman, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health (No. 4);
• Toby Cosgrove, president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic (No. 5);
• David Shulkin, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (No. 6);
• Patrick Conway, deputy administrator for innovation and quality at CMS (No. 7);
• Benjamin Chu, former president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System (No. 8; Chu resigned from his role on Monday);
• Laurie Glimcher, president and CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (No. 9); and
• Marc Harrison, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare (No. 10).

Other hospital and health system leaders who made Modern Healthcare's list include:

• Steven Corwin, president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian (No. 11);
• Gary Kaplan, chair and CEO of Virginia Mason Health System (No. 12);
• Ronald Paulus, president and CEO of Mission Health (No. 13);
• Jonathan Perlin, president of clinical services and CMO at HCA (No. 16);
• Richard Gilfillan, president and CEO at Trinity Health (No. 17);
• Larry Kaiser, president and CEO at Temple University Health System (No. 18);
• Prem Reddy, chair and CEO of Prime Healthcare Services (No. 19);
• Eric Topol, founder and director of Scripps Translational Science Institute (No. 21);
• Lynn Simon, president of clinical operations and CMO at Community Health Systems (No. 22);
• Sachin Jain, CEO at CareMore Health System (No. 23);
• Stephen Klasko, president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health (No. 24);
• Robert Pearl, executive director and CEO of the Permanente Medical Group (No. 25);
• Robert Wachter, chair of the medicine department at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (No. 27);
• William Roper, CEO of UNC Health Care (No. 28);
• Robert Wiebe, EVP and CMO at Dignity Health (No. 33);
• Paul Rothman, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine (No. 34);
• David Pryor, EVP and chief clinical officer at Ascension (No. 35);
• Penny Wheeler, president and CEO of Allina Health (No. 36);
• Nick Turkal, president and CEO at Aurora Health Care (No. 40);
• Steven Safyer, president and CEO of Montefiore Medicine (No. 41);
• Jonathan Lewin, chair, president, and CEO of Emory Healthcare (No. 42);
• David Torchiana, president and CEO of Partners HealthCare System (No. 43);
• Ralph de la Torre, chair and CEO of Steward Health Care System (No. 44);
• William Conway, CEO of Henry Ford Medical Group (No. 45);
• Frederick Cerise, president and CEO of Parkland Health and Hospital System (No. 47); and
• David Bailey, president and CEO of Nemours Children's Health System (No. 48).

Of the 33 hospital and health system leaders on the list, 32 work at organizations that are members of Advisory Board (Modern Healthcare list, accessed 6/18; Modern Healthcare's methodology, accessed 6/18; Modern Healthcare, 6/18; Kacik, Modern Healthcare, 6/19).

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