Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | May 1, 2017 | wbjournal.com An innovation guru has taken over as the healthcare system's chairman, pushing technology and patient experience Keeping UMass Memorial fresh E ric Dickson receives much of the credit for reversing losses for UMass Memorial Health Care, the region's largest employer and pro- vider of healthcare servic- es, since his arrival as president and CEO in 2013. But behind Dickson is a board of trustees with vast knowledge of health- care management and the industry's most pressing concerns, and a chair- man with a rich career in healthcare innovation. In March, Richard Siegrist, a health- care and technology entrepreneur, was voted chairman by his fellow trustees, for a three-year term.Siegrist began his tenure on the board in 2013, shortly after Dickson became the system's chief executive. A lecturer on healthcare management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Siegrist was Dickson's mentor when the latter attended the school's master of health care management program for physi- cians, graduating in 2007. The smartest person in the room Knowing his acumen in healthcare innovation, Dickson was eager to appoint Siegrist to a six-year term on the board of trustees, a volunteer posi- tion, shortly after he was hired as CEO. Before becoming chairman this year, Siegrist was the vice chairman, and he serves as chairman of the finance and governance committees at UMass Memorial. "The board said 'This guy is the smartest person in the room' … so they voted him chair," Dickson said. Siegrist brings to the boardroom an impeccable resume, steeped in health- care finance and technology expertise, with a strong emphasis on improving patient experience. Siegrist is a healthcare entrepreneur who founded HealthShare Technology Inc., a provider of decision-support software to healthcare industry, in the 1990s. When WebMD acquired the compa- ny in 2005,Siegrist continued in leader- ship roles, including senior vice presi- dent of WebMD Health Services and senior vice president and general man- ager of WebMD Quality Services. More recently, Siegrist founded PatientFlow Technology, a patient flow consulting and software solutions com- pany acquired in 2009 by Press Ganey Associates, a major provider of patient experience solutions. Siegrist went on to serve as Press Ganey's CEO until 2011, followed by a stint as chief innovation officer for the South-Bend, Ind. company. BY EMILY MICUCCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer Richard Siegrist served as a mentor to UMass Memorial CEO Eric Dickson before Siegrist was appointed to the UMass board, and ultimately its chairman.

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