Modern Healthcare names executive doctoral student 2013 Up and Comer

Thompson is on track to graduate from the SHP executive doctoral program in 2016.
Henry Thompson, FACHE, CEO of the Community Health Center of Richmond and student in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Executive Doctor of Science Degree in Administration – Health Services program, is named a 2013 Up and Comer by Modern Healthcare Magazine.

Thompson, who turns 40 in January and is on track to graduate from the School of Health Professions’ executive doctoral program in 2016, told the magazine educating patients to make smarter choices once they leave a health care facility is the biggest challenge in primary care.

"The UAB executive doctoral program has enabled me to look at policy issues and challenges on a macro or health system level, so that I can position my own organization to overcome those challenges in ways that will have lasting benefits for our community,” said Thompson. “I’ve also enjoyed learning from and interacting with other health care leaders from different areas of the industry and other parts of the country, as we have shared strategies and ideas for overcoming health policy challenges.”

The magazine says the Community Health Center of Richmond, a federally qualified center on New York’s Staten Island, filed for bankruptcy in 2005, four years before Thompson took over. Today the center “has reduced expenses by 10 percent, had its fourth consecutive year of operating surpluses in fiscal 2012 and has received $16 million in federal, state and local grants,” and Thompson says they are in the process of expanding from one to three facilities.