News

Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, Receives ACHE’s Robert S. Hudgens Award

CHICAGO, January 21, 2010 - Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, chief operating officer, of Sutter-affiliated Mills-Peninsula Health Services/Sutter Health System, Burlingame, Calif., has won the American College of Healthcare Executives 2010 Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year. Plietz will receive the award on Monday, March 22, 2010, at the Parker B. Francis Distinguished Lecture during ACHE’s 53rd Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago.

The Hudgens Award is presented annually to an exceptional healthcare executive who is less than 40 years old and who is the chief executive officer or chief operating officer of a health services organization. The award was established in 1969 by the Alumni/ae Association of the Department of Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, in tribute to its former course director and ACHE’s first vice president, Robert S. Hudgens, FACHE.

Plietz began her career in healthcare management in 1996 when she served for one year as operations manager assistant for Columbia/HCA Richmond Atlantic Division in Virginia. The following year she went to work for Bon Secours Richmond Health System in Virginia, where she spent two years, first as a health management analyst and then as management engineer analyst.

In 1999 Plietz moved to Sutter Health in San Francisco as administrative resident, which led to increasing positions of responsibility in the health system. In 2005 she became chief administrative officer at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, and in 2007 she was promoted to vice president, Specialty Services, at California Pacific Medical Center. The following year she was promoted to her current position of chief operating officer, Mills-Peninsula Health Services/Sutter Health System in Burlingame, Calif.

Plietz’s intelligence and knowledge of and commitment to the healthcare field, colleagues and the community make her one of the most promising young healthcare executives in the country. Her dedication is especially evident in her efforts to guide other young and aspiring executives not only at the organizations she has worked, but through her volunteer role when she was president of Women Health Care Executives of Northern California.

Plietz’s accomplishments are numerous. One of her greatest successes was in 2008 when she supervised development of a full electronic health record system at Mills-Peninsula Health Services, the first acute-care installation at a Sutter Health hospital. The system went live in 2009 on time and within budget, achieving an 85 percent computerized physician order entry compliance rate in one month. Dramatic improvements in clinical metrics also were realized. In addition, Plietz is the lead in transitioning the hospital for its move into a new $618 million acute-care facility. And despite this challenging undertaking, the hospital improved its patient satisfaction levels and in 2009 had one of its best financial years on record.

Plietz has received many awards and honors. She earned a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification and was recognized as the California Pacific Medical Center’s Community Benefit Star Leader and as a Sutter Health Leadership Academy Fellow. She also received an ACHE Regent’s Award in 2004.

Plietz is affiliated with a number of professional organizations. She is a board member of the Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco and is president of the ACHE chapter California Association of Healthcare Leaders, and serves on ACHE’s Early Careerist Committee and Northern and Central California Regents Advisory Council.

American College of Healthcare Executives
The American College of Healthcare Executives is an international professional society of more than 30,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations. ACHE is known for its prestigious FACHE® credential, signifying board certification in healthcare management, and its educational programs including the annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership, which draws more than 4,000 participants each year. ACHE's established network of more than 80 chapters provides access to networking, education and career development at the local level. In addition, ACHE is known for its magazine, Healthcare Executive, and its journals, the Journal of Healthcare Management and Frontiers of Health Services Management, as well as groundbreaking research, career development and public policy programs. ACHE's publishing division, Health Administration Press, is one of the largest publishers of books and journals on all aspects of health services management including textbooks for use in college and university courses. Through such efforts, ACHE works toward its goal of being the premier professional society for healthcare executives dedicated to improving healthcare delivery.

Contact
Kay A. Branz
Vice President, Communications and Marketing
(312) 424-9420
kbranz@ache.org