Paul A. King, CEO of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group will take over as the new executive director of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, the University of Michigan announced Friday.
King will replace interim director Chris Dickinson in August, the university said in a press release.
Paul King will come to Ann Arbor from Los Angeles where he was the President and CEO of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group.
Courtesy UMHS
“We’ve invested in a new facility, and we wanted a strong leader to guide the strategic growth of our children’s and women’s programs and services.”
According to a U-M spokesperson, King has signed on for a five year appointment with a starting salary of $420,000. He will also receive the regular U-M Health System benefits package.
According to publically available databases, Dickinson’s salary as interim director of the hospital was $192,198 for the 2012-13 fiscal year. Former director Patricia Warner led the hospital from 2009 to 2012 and had a base salary of $287,224 when she retired.
Mott moved into its new 1.1 million-square-foot home in December 2011. The facility took five years and $754 million to complete and has already been praised as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country.
In a statement, King said he is excited to take over the reins at Mott. He added that he believes that health care is a calling and that he loves the inherent optimism involved in taking care of children.
“I love the idea of caring for the future, making their lives better, he said.
“There is a very talented team in place and a wonderful new facility [in Ann Arbor]. I look forward to working with them to create a plan to take health care delivery to the next level.”
The new hospital saw approximately 9,000 inpatient visits, 21,000 emergency department visits, and 290,000 outpatient visits in 2012. The health system as a whole operated at a 0.5 percent loss in 2012, in part due to costs associated with opening the new facility, but increased per-patient revenue at the children’s hospital is expected to help bring the system back into the black in 2013.
For the past eight years, King has been leading the Los Angeles-based pediatric group and serving on the executive team of the 365-bed Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He previously held a senior management position at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz..
“We are excited to have someone with Paul’s varied and excellent background join our leadership team,” Timothy Johnson, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said in a statement.
“He will bring new ideas and new experiences that will be invaluable to the Women’s Health Program at the Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital.”
King was selected after U-M Hospitals and Health Centers CEO Doug Strong led a nationwide search for Warner’s replacement. Strong said in a statement that King’s prior work showed that he can help further the Mott Children’s Hospital network of partnerships for Children’s care. The hospital recently affiliated with Sparrow Children’s center in Lansing to help provide specialized care in the area.
“Paul has a prominent role in hospital operations and also in leading a large physician group,” he said.
“He understands all the partners needed to continue our efforts to serve our patients in the state of Michigan and beyond.”
Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2.