CEO Mark Merrill: Staying Involved in Healthcare Policy at Valley Health
Staff - Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 Print	| Email
Mark Merrill has served as president and CEO of Winchester, Va.-based Valley Health since June 2009.
Mr. Merrill has a history of influencing and speaking about national healthcare policy. After earning a master's degree in public health with a concentration in health administration, he participated in a corporate fellowship in healthcare policy and management sponsored by the American Hospital Association and the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. During the fellowship, Mr. Merrill worked on national health policy. Additionally, after being elected in 2006, Mr. Merrill served a three-year term on the American Hospital Association's Regional Policy Board 7 as a delegate for the Section for Metropolitan Hospitals. AHA used the policy board's analysis in its policy deliberations.
More recently in regards to national healthcare policy, Mr. Merrill has spoken publicly about his views on the most recent round of healthcare reform. During the Top of Virginia Chamber's Community Leadership Program held earlier this month, Mr. Merrill maintained a mostly positive outlook on healthcare reform. "There will be a penalties and rewards system for hospitals in order to improve the outcome of a patient's care…I think that's a positive thing," he said in The Northern Virginia Daily. "The Affordable Care Act had noble intentions to get everyone health insurance and expand access to healthcare," he added, though he maintained that implementation of reform will be a challenge, according to The Northern Virginia Daily.
In 1994, Mr. Merrill received the Alumni Leadership Award from the Department of Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from UNC.
If you have additional information or updates for this profile, or would like to recommend a leader to be profiled in the future, please contact Lindsey Dunn, editor in chief, Becker's Hospital Review at ldunn@beckershealthcare.com.
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