Dr. Greg Carlson
Assistant Professor and Associate for Healthcare Consulting
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Health Services Administration
Dr. Carlson is an educator, author, and consultant. He is the co-author of the book Leading Healthcare Cultures: How Human Capital Drives Financial Performance (2009). Dr. Carlson is an Assistant Professor and Associate for Healthcare Consulting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the Department of Health Services. He has servesd as an instructor at the Arnold School of Public Health in Health Policy at the University of South Carolina and at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.
Prior to teaching and consulting, Dr. Carlson worked as a healthcare executive for over 20 years, 11 years as the CEO of a 500-bed community hospital that resulted from the merger of two competing community hospitals. During his tenure as a health care executive Dr. Carlson focused on delivering high quality care, patient safety and producing exceptional financial results. Greg’s management success is the result of building values based cultures, partnering with physicians and implementing innovative programs to carry out the missions of organizations based on community needs.
Key achievements in Greg’s career parallel his consulting interests:
- Physician Partnerships: Developed multiple joint ventures with members of various medical staffs including a joint ventured reference lab serving multiple states; surgery centers; cancer centers; and managed care organizations. Dr. Carlson led a multi-party arrangement between a community hospital, an academic medical center and the medical director of a nationally ranked medical school to redesign a dysfunctional cardiac program. The outcome was a dramatic reduction in mortality, significant improvement in quality and a doubling of the volume.
- Organizational Culture: As CEO, of a merged hospital system, Greg developed a results oriented culture increasing the strength of culture from the 10th percentile to the 92nd percentile. Employee turnover was consistently 50% lower than state and national averages and internal promotions increased by over 80%.
- Quality/Financial Performance: Dr. Carlson introduced an innovative hospital quality monitoring program that was recognized by the Voluntary Hospitals of America and resulted in an invitation to be in the first group of hospitals that became the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
- Community Partnerships: Greg has led collaborative programs with community organizations (schools, businesses and other not-for-profit organizations) to improve the health of the communities. Dr. Carlson received the “Friend of Education Award” from the Kentucky School Board of Education for his innovative work with multiple school systems in the state of Kentucky
Dr. Carlson earned advanced degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of South Carolina, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Southwest Minnesota State University. He and his wife Connie have two adult sons.
Leading Healthcare Cultures: How Human Capital Drives Financial Performance
By: Greg Carlson, PhD and Tom Atchison, EdD
OFFICIAL CONFERENCE OF
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