Baptist Health in Northeast Florida Selects New CEO

Following an extensive national search, Baptist Health has selected a new president and CEO. Brett S. McClung, FACHE, is joining Baptist Health from Texas Health Resources, one of the largest faith-based, nonprofit health care systems in the United States, with 29 hospitals serving nearly 7 million people. He will assume the role in early July, succeeding Hugh Greene, FACHE, who has been with Baptist Health since 1989 and served as its CEO for the past 19 years.

Since 2013, McClung has served as the executive vice president and chief operations leader for the North Zone of Texas Health Resources, comprised of nine hospitals and more than 150 points of care, including outpatient diagnostic/surgery centers, imaging centers, sports medicine sites, primary and specialty physician practices, behavioral health and home health care. Prior to this role, McClung served as the president of hospitals in suburban and large urban markets; vice president of ambulatory services; and director/network manager of the Harris Methodist Texas Health Plan. He has been associated with Texas Health Resources and Harris Methodist since 1993.

During his tenure at Texas Health Resources, McClung has led many transformational efforts, accelerated the adoption of best practices and achieved top rankings in patient safety and satisfaction, employee partnership and physician alignment. Under his leadership, North Zone hospitals have been listed multiple times in Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work and have received an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group.

Known for building collaborative relationships and developing innovative programs, McClung has led many consumer-facing initiatives designed to provide greater convenience, value and ease of use. He partnered with developers and communities to create Neighborhood and Wellness Centers as well as health hubs near corporate campuses to increase access to preventive care. McClung collaborated with physicians to build The Ben Hogan Sports Therapy Institute from a single hospital department to the Texas Health Sports Medicine^SM service line with 16 sites across north Texas, including sports physical therapy, concussion management, athletic training outreach, professional residencies, nutrition services, performance conditioning, and a research foundation. To improve community health, he pioneered an award-winning program, which dramatically reduced the infection rate among area school children.

“We are thrilled to welcome Brett to our health system and our community,” said Baptist Health Board Chair Richard Sisisky. “We believe he is the perfect fit, not only in terms of his breadth and depth of experience but also his passion for excellence and his character. This ‘passing of the torch’ is of paramount importance to our faith-based mission and culture of care. We simply couldn’t ask for a better person to build upon the incredibly rich legacy of leadership that Hugh Greene has continued over the past 30 years.”

President and CEO Hugh Greene said, “I want to add my own word of congratulations to Brett, who I had the opportunity to get to know during the selection process. Given his impressive background and accomplishments, I am most confident in the future of Baptist Health under his leadership.”

McClung is recognized as a Wharton Fellow with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Marshall Memorial Leadership Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He is involved in numerous community and health care industry organizations and serves as faculty/moderator for the American College of Healthcare Executives (2017 Regent’s Award).

“I am so energized by the faith-based mission, community focus, outstanding patient care and clinical excellence I see at Baptist Health,” said McClung. “I look forward to continuing the positive momentum and partnering with the leadership team, medical staff, team members, Board of Directors and community to accomplish great things.”

McClung, originally from south Texas, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Southwestern University and a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from Trinity University. He and his wife Nancy, who is an accomplished CPA, have been married for 27 years and have two adult daughters.