Modern Healthcare lauds Mike Lauf -- again
BRISTOL – In its quest to identify the best and the brightest in healthcare administration, Modern Healthcare magazine keeps coming back to Mike Lauf.
Lauf, chief operating officer at Bristol Regional Medical Center, was recognized by Modern Healthcare for the second time since 2004 as one of nation’s rising stars in healthcare administration. The magazine established the annual “Up & Comers” program to recognize rising young talent in health care and named Lauf to that list in 2004.
For its recently published 20th anniversary “Up & Comers Yearbook,” Modern Healthcare staff selected one honoree from each “Up & Comer” class to be profiled as a “Star Student.” The magazine’s choice from 2004: Mike Lauf.
Modern Healthcare is regarded as the nation’s foremost source of healthcare business news and has a circulation of more than 71,000.
Dr. Richard Salluzzo, president and chief executive officer of Wellmont Health System, said he saw early on that Lauf, 36, had strong leadership qualities that belied his years. Lauf was already president and CEO of Miners Medical Center, in Hastings, Pa., when he was 30 years old, and his youthful appearance prompted Modern Healthcare to draw on a “Doogie Howser” analogy in its profile of Lauf.
Dr. Salluzzo said Lauf made an immediate impact when he was hired in the spring of 2006 to be chief operating officer at Bristol Regional. Lauf’s philosophy in delivering patient care, Dr. Salluzzo said, elevates him to the head of the class.
“It’s a culture of service,” Dr. Salluzzo said. “He says we need to be like Disney, onstage 24-7. Only your imagination can prevent you from doing better things for your patient.”
Lauf has instituted several initiatives at Bristol Regional and created a manual for employees on process improvement. He developed a hospital performance scorecard and has cultivated service improvement goals among employees that have resulted in dramatically higher patient and physician satisfaction scores.
Lauf earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and a master’s degree in business administration from St. Francis University.
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