Cleveland Clinic Florida CEO steps down for new gig

Resigns to take leadership role with private company

Amid cost-cutting efforts at Cleveland Clinic, Wael Barsoum, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Florida, is leaving the hospital system he had led for the last six years to become president of a private company.

Barsoum, who has been steering the Cleveland Clinic Florida through the coronavirus pandemic, said he has taken a position as president and chief transformation officer of HOPCo, owner of orthopedic practices, specialty hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers as well as medical risk management.

“I’m an entrepreneurial guy and I felt it was the right time,” said Barsoum, whose job will be to help grow HOPCo’s operations in several states while based in South Florida.

Barsoum will continue to serve as a parttime member of Cleveland Clinic Florida’s professional staff as an orthopedic surgeon specializing in adult reconstructive surgery, and as a Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. On Monday, the Cleveland Clinic health system announced a cost-reduction plan to offset huge losses tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan includes putting an end to capital projects, restricting travel, and eliminating raises.

Barsoum said his resignation has nothing to do with cost-cutting measures and came as a result of his being recruited. “I am choosing to leave for another job,” he said. “It has nothing to do with Cleveland

Clinic cutting costs. I’m just ready for a change.”

Barsoum said while he relinquished the CEO title, he remains on site for the next six weeks to transition to Joseph Iannotti, Chief of Staff Cleveland Clinic Florida region, who will serve as interim CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic Florida. The health system said it will conduct an internal search to fill the CEO position. Last week, Barsoum told the Sun Sentinel the Weston hospital had begun to see patients return after a statewide prohibition on elective services for about eight weeks had caused large revenue losses in Florida.

Cleveland Clinic, like many health systems, has been struggling with loss of revenue as an effect of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, Cleveland Clinic ended the first quarter of this year with an operating loss of $39.9 million, compared to operating income of $36.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Through April, the first full month the health system limited services due to the pandemic, Cleveland Clinic had net patient service revenue shortfalls of more than $500 million, compared to plan, and incurred about $100 million in COVID-19 preparedness costs, according to financial documents.

To help offset financial damage, Cleveland Clinic received $199 million in federal grants in April and May combined to cover expenses and lost revenues linked to the pandemic.

The health system also applied for and received $849 million in Medicare advance payments, which must be repaid, Becker’s reported.

Barsoum