Name: John Fernandez
Age: 59
Position: President and CEO of Brown University Health
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pa.; now lives in Providence
Going to the doctor can be a pain: There are registration forms to fill out, prior authorization requests to get approved and long wait times in sterile-looking waiting rooms. John Fernandez, the CEO and president of Brown University Health – formerly Lifespan – wants to transform those drab interactions into what he calls a “wow” experience.
“It’s like going to The Ritz [-Carlton],” Fernandez said. “Think of the place where you walk in and that was really something. Disney tries to do this. Health care is a lot harder than those places, but that’s how I want people to leave after they see one of our doctors, one of our nurses [or] goes to our emergency department.”
Fernandez leads the largest employer and health care system in the state. Brown University Health encompasses five hospitals plus primary care and specialty groups , which serve more than 550,000 people every year. The organization is going through a major moment: It is rebranding and acquiring two hospitals in Massachusetts .