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Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable..
Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.
Jill Owens, MD, has been named president of Upper Allegheny Health System.
Jill Owens, MD, has been named president of Upper Allegheny Health System.
The “interim” has been removed from Dr. Jill Owens’ title as president of the health system that operates Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center.
After serving three months as the interim president of Upper Allegheny Health System, Owens is now the first woman without “interim” in front of “president” in filling the top-ranking position with UAHS.
“Dr. Jill Owens was unanimously selected by the Upper Allegheny Health System Board of Directors to be our president because she is an inspirational leader, a beloved clinician, and a savvy businessperson,” said Jeff Belt, chairman of the UAHS board.
Owens’ 90 days as the interim president of a health organization of more than 1,200 employees saw the building of an administrative team that includes local experts committed to the community and want to see the organization succeed.
Owens, a Bradford native, saw the need for cultural change within the organization and began an employee engagement campaign to help shift employee morale, which sagged under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic and administrative decisions that moved some services from BRMC to Olean General.
A grassroots group in the Bradford area has been unrelenting in its criticism of the shutting down of services at BRMC.
In July 2021, former UAHS president and CEO Jeff Zewe resigned after just over a year in the position. He was replaced by interim president and CEO Mary LaRowe, who was also serving as president and CEO of Brooks-TLC Hospital System in Dunkirk.
Employee forums, more leadership rounding and being approachable and accessible were important components to help effectively institute cultural change.
“Getting feedback and improving engagement from team members at all levels, departments, and backgrounds is very important to help drive the change the organization needs to move it in a positive direction,” Owens said. “The past few years have been very trying for our employees, and I think showing that we not only support them but are standing beside them is very important.”
Upper Allegheny wants to be not only the healthcare system of choice, but the employer of choice within the region, Owens said. But like many other healthcare providers, the Twin Tiers hospitals face difficulties due to the financial impact of COVID-19, a nationwide staffing shortage, decreasing reimbursements as well as the continued shift of care from inpatient to outpatient settings.
“In my time as a clinician here, I have never seen the health care delivery system so challenged like we witnessed these past few years,” she said. “But, we are not alone in facing this new environment. ... I am confident that, by working together, we can continue to evolve, become stronger and meet the community’s needs.”
UAHS reports it continues to see successful recruitment of new physicians and services to the network, building a wider breadth of services that continues to outperform other rural healthcare networks. Owens has also launched new initiatives to drive down costs in addition to improving the overall patient experience and quality of care.
She also noted the partnership with Kaleida Health, formed in 2016, has helped to improve the rural healthcare network. The partnership with Kaleida of Western New York brings access to extensive clinical capabilities and services at facilities such as Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute and Oishei Children’s Hospital.
“UAHS’ affiliation with Kaleida Health has been such a wonderful relationship for our organization,” Owens said. “Knowing that we have the support and connection to an abundance of valuable resources that Kaleida Health has at their fingertips continues to help enhance the services we can offer in our communities.”
Don Boyd, president and CEO of Kaleida, said that by building a strong clinical relationship with UAHS, the healthcare networks can continue to improve services in the Twin Tiers.
“Under Dr. Owens’ leadership, we will be able to further integrate our two systems and implement physician recruitment, telemedicine, information technology, operations and other back office opportunities,” Boyd said.
Belt stressed that Owens’ ties to Bradford and the region are critical to her success as leader of the system.
“Dr. Owens’ life’s work has been caregiving in our community, this community where she was born and raised,” he said. “After receiving her medical degree in Pittsburgh, Dr. Owens returned to Bradford to establish her own very successful family practice.”
For more than 22 years, he added, she has provided healthcare leadership, serving on the Bradford Regional Hospital Medical Executive Committee and the Upper Allegheny Health System Board of Directors. Just prior to her promotion to interim president in May, she was chief medical officer of OGH and BRMC, overseeing all clinical operations within UAHS, which also includes Foothills Medical Group, Bradford Regional Medical Services and Health System Physician, PC.
Owens believes the passion she has for the community will be the driving factor that will make a difference in her leadership.
“I am so grateful to live in such a beautiful area with great people,” she said. “I am very fortunate to be in a position that can help make a difference in the lives of people in our region who aren’t strangers on the street but are family, friends, and neighbors.”
Prior to being named chief medical officer for Upper Allegheny, Owens was the vice president of clinical operations and physician relations and executive director of UAHS’ physician network. She served as acting medical director of Foothills Medical Group and as associate medical director of BRMC. In addition, she has operated Bradford Family Medicine, Inc., a private family practice, since 2000.
Owens has served on multiple committees/boards and occupied leadership roles over the last 20 years, including the UAHS and BRMC board of directors.
She is the recipient of several awards including the 2017 Physician Honoree from the Bradford Hospital Foundation, Women of the Year from the Bradford YMCA and Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
Owens has held positions on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s advisory and alumni boards, and volunteered with medical missions and medical explorers. She is a board-certified family physician and a fellow in the American Academy of Family Physicians.
She earned her bachelor’s degree at Pitt-Bradford and went on to complete medical school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and her residency at St. Vincent Health Center in Erie, Pa., where she also served as chief resident. She is a former president the McKean County Medical Society and current Pennsylvania delegate to the American Medical Association.
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