KU Hospital CEO steps down to take new post
KU Hospital CEO and President Irene Cumming has resigned to become president and chief executive officer of the University HealthSystem Consortium, one of the leading U.S. academic medical organizations, with 97 academic medical centers and 153 of their affiliated hospitals.
Cumming said that in her new position quality patient care would be her top priority.
"I will advocate for that to be firmly established as a priority of academic medical centers nationwide, alongside research and education," she said.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who serves as vice chairman of the KU Hospital Authority Board, praised Cumming.
"Irene Cumming has done an excellent job as president and CEO of the University of Kansas Hospital Authority for the past eight years. She is a talented person, and talented people are always in demand. We wish her well in her new post."
"As vice chairman of the KU Hospital Authority, my focus will be on ensuring a continuity of strong, dedicated leadership at the hospital, so that we can continue to build a nationally recognized medical center at KU," Hemenway said.
Cumming's legacy will be the financial turnaround she led beginning in 1998, when the legislature approved a proposal from Hemenway to move the hospital from its status as a state agency to a public authority free to operate like a business.
KU Hospital has gone from a struggling state hospital to a thriving, clinical enterprise with more than 3,550 employees, 465 staffed beds and 450 KU faculty physicians.
The physician practice is the largest in the state and represents more than 200 specialties.
Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center, said that under Cumming's leadership, the KU Hospital has "become one of the state's greatest assets, and as an academic medical center, we are poised to take a significant health care and research leadership role in this region due in part to the hospital's success."
Atkinson pledged to help "facilitate a smooth transition by working with the hospital's designated successor to move forward as a unified academic medical center and to ensure our collective, long-term success."
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