Dr. Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health, makes his way to his office at the system's headquarters in Renton, Washington.
When Dr. Rod Hochman retires as Providence St. Joseph Health president and CEO at the end of this year, he will have worked 45 years in health care, with the last 17 at Providence or its affiliates. Providence Chief Operating Officer Erik Wexler will
succeed him at the health system's helm beginning Jan. 1.
On the cusp of his retirement, Hochman speaks with Catholic Health World about how his passion for medicine propelled his career, how he decided to transition to health care administration, how he's been formed throughout his tenure in Catholic
health care and what he hopes retirement will look like for him.
His responses have been edited for length and clarity:
What did you enjoy most about being a physician?
One of the most remarkable things about being a physician — and I was recently talking with a group of Sisters of Providence about this — is there's a real similarity between becoming a sister and becoming a physician. Both take an oath for life, and
we take it very seriously, and we take seriously the components that are service related — we care for everyone, no matter who they are.
As part of the St. Joseph Health tradition, we use the term "sacred encounter," and as a physician it is about that relationship between you, and the patient and the family, around something so intimate and important as health. (St. Joseph combined with
Providence Health & Services to form Providence St. Joseph Health.)
I've always kidded my board that if they didn't like what I was doing, I'd just hang up my shingle and go back to practicing medicine again. … The highest order is taking care of people.
What prompted you to transition into health care administration?
It's not like I woke up one day and said, "I want to be an administrator." When I was head of residency and associate dean at a Mayo Clinic affiliate near Syracuse, New York, I was invited onto the board. In that role, I learned the intricacies of health
care finances, budgeting — I basically got five MBAs' worth of knowledge of health care. I later moved along to leadership roles in health care in Cincinnati but continued to never refuse a role that was offered there. Slowly, I realized that my administrative
responsibilities were becoming a burden to my partners and my patients, so I had to get out of active practice with patients.
Hochman participates in a meeting at the system headquarters.
What brought you to Catholic health care?
Midway in my career, I moved to Seattle, and (former Catholic Healthcare West CEO) Lloyd Dean asked me to be on the Catholic Healthcare West board, to bring clinical experience. CHW's seven founding congregations were part of that board and those sisters
gave me a thorough education on Catholic health care. I loved my time on that board, and those relationships cemented things for me.
Then, when I was leading Swedish Health Services, my friend and colleague (and former CEO of Providence Health & Services) John Koster and I began considering a merger, and it seemed natural for (the secular health system) Swedish and Providence to
join together. The people at Providence became very close friends of mine, and I needed those mentors in Catholic health care. At that time — 2012 — we were among the first to form a relationship between a Catholic and other-than-Catholic system.
It's been great in Catholic health care to have bosses who are more concerned with caring for the health of communities than with the bottom line itself. Working with people who are more interested in the common good than just with hitting margin has
been a fantastic transition, and it aligns with why I went into medicine.
Hochman addresses the 2017 Catholic Health Assembly in New Orleans, at the start of his year term as chair of the CHA Board of Trustees.
What have these last several years of your leadership in health care been like?
For all of us, it's been COVID, COVID, COVID. This has been an existential crisis of a magnitude that we've never faced, and I think — and I've said this before — it was health care's finest moment. I was chair of the American Hospital Association during
the second year of the pandemic, and I saw — in health care, we didn't know what we were up against, we had to figure it out quickly, and our doctors and caregivers on the front line, and all of health care did a fabulous job. And Catholic health
care should be proud of how we dealt with the issues and what we did.
What's struck you as the leader of a ministry system?
I kid people that as a Catholic health care CEO, you make three pilgrimages a year: one, to Wall Street to beg for money; one, to Washington, D.C., to advocate for what you need; and one, to the Vatican, which is a complex, bureaucratic institution that
is 2,000 years old. You have to balance all three, and as a ministry CEO you have to drive it right down the middle, make it all work, and do the best for the patients and the community.
I've relied on my partnership with my chief mission officer. We need to ensure we're true to who we are, and Providence is a values-driven organization. We take politics out of it, and that's a great thing about being a faith-based organization.
Thankfully we have a document called the "Hopes and Aspirations" that the Sisters of Providence
wrote when they transitioned their ministry to the sponsorship of the public juridic person. That document is a guidepost from those who built this system with their own hands. They get first dibs on the direction we go. I'm giving that document to
Erik to keep on his desk as I've done.
Looking back over 45 years in health care, how is the system worse, and how is it better?
Health disparities are not getting better and who gets access to care is not getting better. It's frustrating that we have not been able to crack this nut on primary and preventive care in the U.S. I wish it was better.
Hochman chats with fellow assembly-goers at the 2022 Catholic Health Assembly in Indianapolis.
But, scientifically, I cannot believe where we are. We have the blueprint for every individual person and disease, and we understand diseases better and we can amass the power of computing billions and billions of pieces of data about health — it almost
takes your breath away. We can cure diseases we've never cured before, we develop vaccines in months. The science and technology are moving at light speed.
What are your plans for retirement?
I don't believe in the word "retirement"! But, I will be CEO emeritus for a year supporting Erik. Once I am no longer CEO, as a private citizen, I will advocate more for the causes that are important to me, and I will be able to be louder and have more
freedom of speech than as a health system CEO.
I also will continue to chair (the health care data company) Truveta as well as continue to serve on the medical school and business school and GE HealthCare boards that I am on.
My dad always talked about the need to give back. My wife and I have started a scholarship program for medical students to attend Boston University and one for Swedish doctors to get their MBA, and those are funded in perpetuity. We're also starting a
family foundation to give back to causes we believe in, such as ones promoting health equity and care access.
I'm also looking forward to time with my four grandkids and with my wife of 46 years. I'll be finding my own balance — my own center of gravity — between my faith, my wishes, my family and giving back.
What do you want to share with the ministry?
As a lot of people in transition discover, it's all about the relationships. And these relationships with the people I work with and care about are precious.
Visit chausa.org/chworld to read the 2023 Catholic Health World article on Hochman's receipt of CHA's Sister Carol Keehan Award.