Integris CEO announces retirement
The president and chief executive of Integris Health announced Tuesday he’s stepping down from the post at the end of this year.
Bruce Lawrence’s retirement will end a 17-yearlong relationship he’s had with the state’s largest nonprofit health care system, including eight years as its top executive.
Lawrence said he is honored and grateful to have had the opportunity to lead Integris Health, its physicians and staff.
“Integris has a legacy of delivering quality and innovative care, and it is positioned well for continued success,” he said.
Lawrence joined Integris in 2000 and served as president of Integris Baptist Medical Center and Integris Southwest Medical Center before becoming president and CEO of the larger system in 2010.
He took on that role just as Congress approved the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, something he said Tuesday made his experiences as Integris’ top executive “an interesting ride.”
As envisioned, the federal law commonly referred to as Obamacare sought to give everyone access to quality insurance and health care services while reducing Medicare reimbursements over a 10-year period of time, he observed.
“The way it played out, that didn’t happen,” Lawrence said.
Meanwhile, Lawrence said hospitals still are
required to treat patients facing life threatening emergencies, adding that most turn few people away, regardless, since most come to a hospital for help because they don’t have a primary physician.
Plus, providing quality health care is challenging anyway, and becomes much more so when providers have to comply with the 2,000-plus page act and its 25,000 additional pages of associated regulations and rules, he said.
“And as we are seeing on the national level, there is still a lot of confusion about which direction to go,” he said.
But despite those issues, Integris Health continued to grow and Lawrence said Tuesday he is proud it now operates eight hospitals,
nine centers of excellence and more than 160 family care and specialty clinics across the state.
As the system’s top executive, he oversaw the construction and opening of the Integris Health Edmond medical campus, the groundbreaking of the Integris Arcadia Trails Addiction Treatment and Recovery Center and established joint ventures with Lakeside Women’s Hospital and Access Medical Centers.
He played a significant role developing Oklahoma’s largest clinically integrated network of 1,200 physicians, known as Integris Health Partners, and led the operation’s efforts to become the state’s only Mayo Clinic Care Network member.
Lawrence said Integris
“is an incredible organization, starting with our board all the way through our leadership team. I am very proud of how the system has performed, and I have full confidence that Integris will continue to be the preferred health care provider for Oklahomans.”
Other achievements
Lawrence serves as chairman of an American Hospital Association regional board that has members from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana, and he also serves on the association’s national board.
Lawrence also is an executive committee member of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, and he and his wife, Donna, served
as community co-chairs of the 2013 United Way of Central Oklahoma’s campaign.
Lawrence, a Fellow with the American College of Health Care Executives, also received the Duce Award in 2016 for being an outstanding graduate of Trinity University’s Health Care Administration program.
Pete Delaney, chairman of Integris Health’s board, said the organization values Lawrence’s contributions.
“Bruce is leaving a proud legacy of accomplishment,” Delaney said. “He has provided dynamic leadership as Oklahoma weathered a struggling economy and reduced payments for health care services.”
A national search for
Lawrence’s replacement already is underway, and Chris Hammes, Integris Health’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will lead the company in the interim until a new chief executive is selected.
Meanwhile, Lawrence still will be involved with Integris Health, as he plans to serve as senior adviser focused on philanthropy and other nonoperational issues for the board’s chairman.
“While there is never a perfect time to retire, I think this is the right time for me to step back and reflect on my 37-year career in health care and to contemplate how I want to spend the next chapter of my life,” he said. “I am really looking forward to that.”