Piedmont Healthcare, a private, nonprofit organization with nearly 660 locations serving 2 million patients across Georgia, has named Michelle Fisher, formerly chief strategy and performance improvement officer, as president, primary care and retail services, a role in which she will oversee strategy and operations for primary, urgent and retail care, as well as continue to lead Piedmont’s employer relations strategy.
 
Fisher, who has served in a variety of executive roles in her 16 years with Piedmont, had served in her former role since 2015. Among other contributions, over the past 16 years she played an integral role in the development of the system’s strategic plan and in growth of the system from two to now 11 hospitals, as well as in the addition of hundreds of clinics and ambulatory locations.
 
“Michelle has been an influential leader of Piedmont’s culture and business strategy,” Piedmont President and CEO Kevin Brown said. “I’m certain that her record of success will continue in this new role. I want to thank her for her leadership and for taking on this important task.”
 
As part of her performance improvement portfolio, Fisher served as co-executive sponsor of Piedmont’s performance Strategic Transformation and Resource Stewardship (STARS) initiative, which has realized nearly $400 million in savings or revenue enhancements since its inception in 2015. She is a member of Piedmont’s leadership team, serves as a board member for Piedmont Henry Hospital and also serves on the boards of the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital in Phenix City, Ala., and Surgery Center of Athens. In 2005, she helped to create Piedmont’s Women’s Leadership Alliance.
 
As the largest healthcare provider in Georgia, Piedmont serves 70 percent of Georgia’s population. More than 35 percent of Piedmont’s patient encounters occur in retail clinics, urgent care centers and primary care offices. In her new role, Fisher will report to Piedmont Physician Enterprise CEO Charles L. Brown, III, M.D.
 
“As one of the main front doors to Piedmont, our primary care network is critical to realizing our vision of an organized, clinically integrated service – one that connects all primary care patients to the diagnostic services and specialty care they need in a seamless way,” Fisher said. “I would like to thank Kevin and Dr. Brown for their support and asking me to take on this role and I look forward to helping to provide more Georgians with the high-quality, patient-centered healthcare they deserve.”