Longtime St. Joseph Health System executive Paul Viviano left the Orange-based company last week to run a pair of Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospitals in Los Angeles.
Viviano, a Huntington Beach resident, is taking over as chief executive of USC University Hospital in Los Angeles and as executive manager of USC/Norris Cancer Hospital. He’s starting the new positions this week.
“My career aspiration was eventually to work in a teaching hospital as a leader, CEO of a major teaching hospital,” said Viviano, who spent 14 years with St. Joseph Health System. He was most recently its executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Ted Schreck, Tenet’s regional vice president for Southern California and Los Angeles, described Viviano in a news release as “a proven leader who has consistently demonstrated both a strong commitment to the highest quality patient care and outstanding financial management skills.” Viviano is Schreck’s successor at the Los Angeles hospitals.
Seeking Replacement
St. Joseph Health System is searching for Viviano’s replacement and hopes to make a decision within the next few weeks, a spokeswoman said. The system’s local hospitals are St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. St Joseph is the largest hospital operator in Orange County, according to the Business Journal list.
Viviano called his new jobs a “special opportunity,” citing USC University Hospital’s affiliation and relationship with the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, which provides doctors for the hospital.
In his new positions, Viviano said he expects to face budget issues. He said the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 has had a huge effect on hospitals, regardless of the operating structure.
“Declining reimbursement and increased demand is a challenge for all of us,” he said.
Viviano has overseen growth at St. Joseph. Last year, net patient revenue rose 38% to $278.5 million. But net income at St. Joseph dropped 41% last year to $6.4 million.
“In the last six years I was chief operating officer, we tripled the size of the health system,” he said, adding that it grew while maintaining an AA credit rating on its bonds.
“Higher Intensity”
USC University Hospital, with 284 beds, is on USC’s Health Sciences campus in Boyle Heights. Figures from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development showed it had 1998 net income from operations of $5.2 million and net patient revenue of $150.9 million.
USC University Hospital provides tertiary and quaternary healthcare, such as organ transplants. “It’s a higher intensity,” Viviano said.
USC/Norris Cancer Hospital has 100 beds and is part of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated center. Tenet manages that hospital for USC.
Viviano’s previous healthcare positions include president and chief executive of Long Beach Community Hospital and chief executive of Los Alamitos Medical Center, another Tenet hospital. He holds degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and UCLA.
Santa Barbara-based Tenet operates nine hospitals in Orange County. Its local holdings also include Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Western Medical Center-Santa Ana and Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center. n
