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Date: April 8, 2020
To: PPN Physicians
From: Sheila Ware, President and Chief Executive Officer
Subject: Retirement
There is no doubt that this has been a challenging time for each of you in these unchartered, unprecedented time of a pandemic. One certainly would never have been able to forecast such an occurrence when a number of months ago I decided it was time to plan for my retirement.
As such the Patient Physician Network Holding Company Board of Managers began their search for my replacement. It is definitely bittersweet stepping down from my current role as I have had a long-standing association with PPG and PPN. It began in the late nineties and then more closely in 2004 when I became the Network Market Vice President for Aetna.
Even then I knew the valuable contribution PPN made in the Metroplex with the high-quality efficient way in which care is given to the patients. When I retired from Aetna in 2010, I was looking for an opportunity to act on my “mission” to assist independent physicians to remain independent. Shortly thereafter I began as a PPN consultant, then Managed Care Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and lastly, as Chief Executive Officer. It gives me great pleasure to see how we have been able to grow and move into the valued based space so successfully.
The PPNHCo Board has chosen Scott Hurst, MBA, FACHE as my successor. Scott has an extensive background in healthcare in the DFW marketplace, working with systems including Methodist, HCA, Children’s Health and CHRISTUS Health. He may have had the opportunity to work with many of you while he was Senior Director of Physician Networks, with the Children’s Health clinically integrated network, Pediatric Partners. Scott most recently served as an Executive Director with naviHealth, overseeing BPCI-A (Medicare bundled payments) operations for over 20 hospitals in TX, LA, and OK.
Scott and I will work side by side during the upcoming month with what we plan to be a very seamless transition of the role. While I will be stepping away from the CEO position, I will still be available to consult much like Dr. Fox currently is able to do following his retirement.
I would like to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity that you have given me to be involved in such a dynamic exciting journey.
Please stay healthy and safe.
Sheila