Thomas Johnston is a Principal in the Physician Workforce Practice of SullivanCotter. With more than 30 years of health care industry experience in a variety of leadership roles, Tom brings unique experience in strategic planning, physician/hospital alignment, contracting strategies and operations management. He works effectively with stakeholders at all levels to create effective governance models and successful implementation plans.
Tom’s experience includes:
- Developing new health care business partnerships and leading hospital-physician mergers and acquisitions to ensure the realization of strategic goals under value-based risk arrangements.
- Advancing the relationship between organizations and their physicians and developing strategies to promote smooth integration and acceptance of new patient-centric models and processes.
- Leading physician group practice integration strategies, including the establishment of clinical benchmarks, performance metrics, development of measurement systems and data collection to ensure that incentive compensation supports the mission and business strategies.
- Developing service line co-management agreements to bring physicians and hospitals together to achieve the “triple aim” of greater patient satisfaction, higher quality and lower cost.
- Conducting contract negotiations for a variety of reimbursement arrangements, including value-based contracting and bundled case rates.
- Developing governance strategies, authority-accountability matrices and comprehensive implementation plans to provide operational clarity, as well as create physician consensus and buy-in.
Prior to joining the firm, Tom held several executive roles in both specialty clinics and large physician practices, including CEO of EmployerDirect Healthcare, CEO of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons, P.A., and vice president of Eisenhower Medical Clinics. He also was a director in the health care practice of a specialized, global professional services consulting firm.
A member of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), Tom has served as president of the Texas chapter. He has also been president of the Surgical Leadership Alliance (SLA).
Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science with a minor in international relations from California State University, Northridge. He earned a Juris Doctor with a special focus in contract law from the Ventura College of Law, also in California.
