Tommy Ibrahim, the health system’s new (and first ever) Chief Transformation Officer, says new models of care will set the stage for true value and growth. To Tommy Ibrahim, healthcare needs to evolve to meet the needs of America’s rural populations. The time-honored practice of going to the doctor’s office or hospital for care doesn’t work when those sites are either closed or hundreds of miles distant. “We need to change how we think of healthcare,” he says. Tommy Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MHA, EVP and Chief Transformation Officer at Sanford Health. Photo courtesy Sanford Health. Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MHA, was recently named the first-ever Chief Transformation Officer for Sanford Health, the nation’s largest rural health system. He steps into the position with a wealth of experience, having served as president and CEO of the Sanford Health Plan for two years and, before that, spending almost four years as president and CEO of Bassett Healthcare in upstate New York and about three years as CMO and then Chief Physician Executive at Oklahoma’s INTEGRIS Health. [Listen to the HealthLeaders podcast: How Digital Health Can Help a Rural Health System, With Bassett Healthcare CEO Tommy Ibrahim.] The challenge, Ibrahim says, begins with understanding how care can and should be delivered to more than 2 million people across several states. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(“dfp-ad-hl_native1”); }); “We are a rural healthcare organization,” he points out. “99% of the 320,000 square miles that we serve are rural. So we are challenged with [serving] disseminated communities. We face…
