Tufts Medical Center Names Eric Beyer as New President and CEO

Seasoned leader from region's most successful physicians' networks assumes presidency of nationally-renowned academic medical institution

BOSTON, July 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children announced today that Eric J. Beyer has been selected as its next President and Chief Executive Officer – assuming leadership of the hospital October 1 as outgoing President and CEO Ellen Zane retires. Beyer has been President and CEO of the Tufts Medical Center Physicians Organization since 2005, and in this role he has been a key architect of the hospital's strategy throughout his tenure.

"This is a very exciting time for Tufts Medical Center. Our Board of Trustees and search committee worked diligently to determine the best candidate for this important position and determined that Eric Beyer, one of our own, was the president and CEO we wanted for the future," said Tom Hollister, Chairman of the Tufts Medical Center Board of Trustees. "Eric is an experienced, talented and driven leader with extensive knowledge of this dynamic health care market and Tufts Medical Center's strong position.  He is highly respected throughout the region and is exactly the leader the Medical Center needs to guide it during this time of great change in the health care environment."

"This is a tremendous time of opportunity for Tufts Medical Center and I am honored to assume the leadership of this vibrant, world-class institution," said Beyer.  "Tufts Medical Center is nationally recognized for its outstanding, cutting-edge clinical care, its clinical and health policy research, and its excellence in training the doctors of tomorrow. In Massachusetts, Tufts MC is recognized as a lower-cost, high-quality provider – part of the solution to the spiraling costs of health care. I am committed to furthering our strategy of providing top-notch tertiary and quaternary care while working with our community hospital affiliates to keep care local whenever possible.  I am just as determined that we will continue to break new ground in research and physician training, and that we will remain a model corporate citizen in the neighborhood of Chinatown and the city of Boston."

When he was hired as President and CEO of the Tufts MC Physicians Organization, Beyer was charged with merging two separate physician groups into one highly-functioning physicians' organization. He has grown that organization nearly 20 percent in almost six years and has made Tufts Medical Center an employer of choice for talented and respected physicians from academic medical centers across the country. As a result of the strong partnership between the Physicians Organization and the hospital, Tufts MC and its physicians have achieved a degree of alignment and integration that hospitals nationwide strive to attain.

By virtue of the highly-integrated nature of the Physicians Organization and the Medical Center, Beyer has played an integral role in nearly every strategic initiative undertaken by the hospital during his tenure. This has included the resurgence of Floating Hospital for Children as a nationally-renowned children's hospital, the expansion of the Medical Center's research enterprise, the attainment of an investment-grade bond rating for the hospital's debt earlier this year, the development of the hospital's strategy for working with community affiliates throughout Eastern Massachusetts, and the growth of its community physicians network, New England Quality Care Alliance.

Throughout his tenure as CEO of the Tufts Medical Center Physicians Organization, Beyer has worked closely with Zane to bring the hospital back from significant fiscal difficulties to financial stability. Zane recruited Beyer to Tufts MC after working side by side with him at Partners Community HealthCare Inc., the physicians' organization of Partners HealthCare Inc. Beyer held roles of increasing responsibility at PCHI, becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2000, while Zane was Network President there. Beyer helped grow the network from 180 primary care physicians at its founding to more than 1,200 at the time of his departure.  

"Tufts Medical Center has selected an outstanding leader in Eric, who has been a valued colleague and partner of mine, consulting me on issues critical to the hospital while building a Physicians Organization that works in concert with the Medical Center," said Zane, who will retire September 30.  "Eric has earned the deep respect of our physicians, staff members, referring physicians, researchers and our community affiliates. The significant contributions he has made have played a crucial role in developing Tufts Medical Center into the thriving institution that it is today. He has the right experience and expertise to lead Tufts Medical Center, and I am proud to pass the baton to him."

Beyer's role in building a regional presence for the Medical Center has been critical to its success. His talents helped to form New England Quality Care Alliance, Tufts Medical Center's physician network, and grow it from 120 community physicians to 930 community physicians. The network, one of the largest in Massachusetts, has a total of nearly 1,500 physicians including Tufts MC faculty. Beyer also served as one of the chief architects of Tufts Medical Center's Distributed Academic Medical Center™ model, which builds strategic partnerships with community hospitals and doctors to keep more care in the community. Over the past several years, Beyer has helped form partnerships with seven community hospitals throughout Eastern Massachusetts.

"Our partnership with Tufts Medical Center has benefitted our patients by expanding the services we can offer here in the MetroWest region, and has provided us with a terrific tertiary referral center when our patients need that level of care. Having worked with Eric to build this affiliation, I am extremely pleased that he will be Tufts Medical Center's next president and CEO," said Andrei Soran, President and CEO of MetroWest Medical Center. "Eric is a leader with vision and an immense knowledge of health care in New England. I look forward to working with him to further enhance our partnership."

Beyer has also worked to maintain close ties between the Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. Tufts MC is the principal teaching hospital for TUSM, and Zane, Beyer and Dean Harris Berman recruit and evaluate the organizations' physician leaders together.  

"Eric has a keen appreciation of the value of the ties between Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University. I know he will be an excellent partner for the University as our two institutions move forward together," said Tufts University President Lawrence Bacow.  "I am confident that Eric will ensure that Tufts Medical Center remains an ideal training ground for our medical school students as they prepare for the challenges of practicing medicine in the changing health care environment."

Beyer received an MBA from State University of New York at Albany and is a graduate of LeMoyne College.  He holds a bachelor's degree in science. He and his wife, Julie, live in Wellesley with their two sons.

About Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center is an exceptional, not-for-profit, 415-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children. Conveniently located in downtown Boston, the Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. Floating Hospital for Children is the full-service children's hospital of Tufts Medical Center and the principal pediatric teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine. Tufts Medical Center is affiliated with seven community hospitals and with New England Quality Care Alliance, its community physicians' network. For more information, please visit www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org.

SOURCE Tufts Medical Center