Rob Slattery takes over as new CEO of SOFHA

From Johnson City Press – State of Franklin Healthcare Associates has hired Rob Slattery as the new chief executive officer of the company.

Slattery takes over the role as former CEO Richard Panek steps down and shifts to the role of chief strategy officer before his official retirement in June of 2023. Slattery was born and raised in the New England area and served in the military before attending college in California.

He holds a bachelor of science degree in business and organizational systems development from California State University at Northridge, and he received a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Before joining SOFHA, Slattery served in a variety of leadership roles for multiple health care organizations, including one in Chattanooga and three in Johnson City. He then took a job in Maine before eventually returning to Johnson City.

“It was when I was in California that I was first introduced to some colleagues in Chattanooga, and they were looking for an executive to join their organization at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee. And while I passed on that opportunity at the time, they called again years later, and I went down to oversee one of their programs primarily serving the Medicare population,” said Slattery. “It was during that time and turning things around at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee and ultimately creating the senior care division that I was introduced to a CEO for a health system here in Northeast Tennessee. Ultimately, I made the decision to come and join that organization. I was tasked with creating a vision, a business strategy, to really usher in value-based care, integrated care models, across the region.”

With his previous work striving to transform the health care system into what he calls well care as opposed to sick care, Slattery was able to work closely with physicians, clinicians and administration to define what well care is and how it could be implemented.

“It’s really refreshing to see that State of Franklin Healthcare Associates has continued on that path and has done quite well. I think in many ways they’ve gone from a medical group, physician-owned, physician-led, to becoming a physician-owned, physician-led system of care, because they now offer services in multiple domains,” said Slattery. “The organization opened its complex imaging center here in Johnson City and has now just opened a new mammography center for women in Kingsport, so it’s really becoming something more than a medical group. It’s really a system of care, and the uniqueness of being physician-led, physician-owned is special.”

SOFHA’s network includes primary and specialty care physician practices as well as outpatient care sites and homecare services including an acute care clinic, diabetes clinic, echo-cardiograms, clinical laboratory services, physical therapy, women’s physical therapy, a sleep center, comprehensive breast center, and imaging center, according to their website. With Slattery taking the reins, he plans to focus on the company’s mission and core values as it continues to grow and provide services to the community.

“I think as I come into this role, what I see coming in the cumulative effect is being able to then start to focus on seeing where the organization is at today, where it needs to be at in the future, getting to know the physicians and team members and then really focusing on creating a commonness around our mission, our vision, our values, so we can achieve those objectives that continue to build upon the success,” said Slattery. “Success comes from doing the right thing for the right reasons and being able to roll up the sleeves and do the hard work, really striving for excellence. We’ve built a reputation of being very patient-centric, being very responsive, being innovative where it makes sense from the perspective of being able to deliver an exceptional patient experience. We’re going to continue to build on the legacy.”