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Nework hires first VP of Medical Affairs
12/13/2005
Long-time emergency room physician Samuel S. Spicer, M.D., has agreed to serve as the first Vice President of Medical Affairs for New Hanover Health Network.

Dr. Spicer, who has spent the past year practicing medicine part-time while working as the network's medical director for outcomes and informatics, will officially begin in his new role on Jan. 1, 2005.

Dr. Spicer's hiring represents the next step in the network's ongoing effort to strengthen relationships with physicians and include them in strategic and operational, as well as clinical, decisions the network faces. In his new capacity, Dr. Spicer will assist the Chief of the Medical Staff, act as liaison between network administration and physicians and oversee quality of care issues and quality improvement.

He will no longer practice emergency care when he begins in his new role. Board-certified in Emergency Medicine and Family Practice, Dr. Spicer has practiced emergency medicine since 1978 and has been with East Coast Emergency Physicians in Wilmington since 1987. As an ECEP physician, he has practiced exclusively at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Cape Fear Hospital and Pender Memorial Hospital.

He said the career switch came at a time he was ready to contribute to the medical care in new ways.

'There's a lot of exciting things a physician-administrator can facilitate happening that physicians in practice just don't have time to attend to,' he said.

His immediate goals include finishing the implementation of the Picture Archiving and Communications System, the process that will digitize all X-rays and other diagnostic tests, and store them electronically, as well as digitizing the recording of cardiac catheterization procedures.

He also will take charge of improving quality of care measurements required by regulatory agencies, advocate for patient safety measures and research suggested new treatments and procedures. And at all times he will bring a physician presence to any decision-making process on the part of the administration, and vice-versa.

'I will advocate internally for physicians as much as externally for the hospital,' he said. 'I will keep focus on the physicians' viewpoint. Sometimes, the hospital has not thought of things because there was no one there to ask the question.

"At the same time, the hospital is very complex. The physicians don't know how to work the system, who the right people are and what they have to do to change something."

Jack Barto, CEO of New Hanover Health Network, said Dr. Spicer was a natural fit for the new role.

'Dr. Spicer has earned the trust and respect of both fellow physicians and hospital staff,' Mr. Barto said. 'He is the perfect choice to strike the balance between the needs of the physicians and those of the medical center. By acting as an advocate for each, he will make both groups stronger and bring them closer together.'

Dr. Spicer earned a B.S. in Chemistry at Emory University in 1972, then his medical degree at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston in 1976. His internship was completed at Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, and his residency at Riverside Hospital in Newport News, Va. In February, he will complete his Masters of Medical Management from Tulane University.

During his career, he has served as Chief of the Medical Staff at New Hanover Regional, ECEP president, and Medical Director of NHRMC's Emergency Department. He founded a project that is now a part of state government to establish a statewide ED database for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical surveillance and public health.

In 2001 he was selected North Carolina's Emergency Physician of the Year, and he helped found the Carousel Center, a non-profit referral center for child abuse evaluations and treatment.

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