2019 Leaders in Health Care, Outstanding Medical Director/Chief Medical Office: Michael Anderson M.D., David Knoepfler M.D.

This article appears in print in the March 2019 issue. See more about the winners of the 2019 Leaders in Healthcare Awards here. Click here for a free subscription.

Gold Award
Michael Anderson, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer, CHI Franciscan Health, Tacoma

Michael Anderson served as a Navy physician and organization leader at postings across the globe, but he and his wife consider the Bremerton area home. Today, the retired rear admiral is chief medical officer for Tacoma-based CHI Franciscan Health, a nonprofit health system with 10 hospitals and 200-plus clinics.

Leading a big organization isn’t new. Previously, Anderson held such roles as Navy medical inspector general, medical officer to the Marine Corps and health services director at Headquarters Marine Corps before retiring from the military in 2013. That same year, Anderson became CMO of Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton to help steer the then-independent hospital’s transition as it joined CHI Franciscan.

In his role as CHI Franciscan’s CMO since 2016, Anderson’s colleagues describe him as a change agent while ensuring clinical quality, regulatory compliance and institutional safety. On his watch, the Perioperative Surgical Home Center for coordinated care of a patient’s entire surgical experience has reduced surgery complications and costs.

For hospital safety, Anderson encouraged an integrated program toward team-based care, changing processes and fostering better communication. CHI Franciscan raised benchmarks significantly, with the Leapfrog Group, a national advocate for hospital and health care transparency, according it top safety ratings that reflect a 26 percent improvement since spring 2017. Anderson credits this improvement to more than 2,000 physicians sharing a laser focus on quality treatment of what matters most, patient experience.

“It’s resulted in fewer deaths,” he says, “and fewer complications.”