Following more than a decade leading The Guthrie Clinic (Guthrie) through a period of significant growth and exceptional patient care, Dr. Joseph Scopelliti announced Tuesday he will begin a transition process to retire as President and Chief Executive Officer.
The Guthrie Board of Directors has established a search committee to oversee the process for selecting Guthrie’s next CEO. Scopelliti will continue in his current role until his successor is on-the-job.
“We have a long and rich history of championing integrated healthcare and clinician leadership with one of the longest established group practices in the country, beginning with Dr. Donald Guthrie’s arrival in 1910. Since the beginning of my residency in 1979 I have witnessed the continuation of Dr. Guthrie’s mission through a period of exceptional growth, transforming us into a vibrant health system providing world-class care with a vast, multi-specialty group practice, new, state-of-the-art hospitals, teaching programs, a research institute, home care and hospice,” said Scopelliti.
Dr. Scopelliti oversaw the openings of two new hospitals, Troy Community Hospital and Corning Hospital, the technologically advanced intensive care and heart and vascular units at Robert Packer Hospital, as well as numerous new medical office buildings throughout the region. He led system affiliations with Towanda Memorial Hospital in Towanda, PA, and Cortland Regional Medical Center in Cortland, NY, expanding services and improving care for those communities. Dr. Scopelliti was also instrumental in establishing the partnerships with the Mayo Clinic Care Network and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.
“We are extremely grateful for Dr. Scopelliti’s excellent leadership,” said Ken Levitzky, Chairman of Guthrie’s Board of Directors. “Under his direction, Guthrie made significant strides in its ongoing mission to deliver superior patient care. Through his example, we have strengthened our system’s culture of trust and collaboration, with the patient at the center of every decision.”
During Dr. Scopelliti’s tenure as President and CEO, Guthrie has also experienced increased recognition across the region for the delivery of high-quality patient care. In 2009, Guthrie was highlighted by Atul Gawande, Donald Berwick, Elliott Fisher and Mark McClellan in a New York Times Op-Ed article entitled “10 Steps to Better Health Care” as a model of success, citing low Medicare costs per capita and above average federal quality measures. Moreover, the system has been recognized for exceptional clinical quality with seven top 100 hospital awards, five top 100 performance improvement leader recognitions, two top 50 health care system awards based on low cost and high quality care, and two Everest Awards from Thomson Reuters for demonstrating exceptional performance improvement. Additionally, Guthrie’s Robert Packer Hospital has been named to the IBM Watson Top 50 for Cardiovascular Care list 11 times, most recently in 2019.
Throughout his time at Guthrie, Dr. Scopelliti spurred innovations across the health system, earning national acclaim. Under his direction, Guthrie has achieved Epic Gold Stars Level 10 in recognition for its exceptional use of the electronic health record in delivering high quality patient care, placing Guthrie in the top one percent of organizations worldwide using the Epic tool. Guthrie has also achieved Most Wired Recognition multiple times, most recently in 2020, from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) for its exemplary performance in applying technologies to improve health care in the communities it serves.
Dr. Scopelliti’s guidance was key to the establishment of the system’s modern governance structure bringing together physician leaders, local business leaders, and national health care experts to help guide the organization.
Dr. Scopelliti joined Guthrie in 1984 following his Guthrie residency and fellowship, which began in 1979. He continues to be a practicing gastroenterologist at the health system. Before ascending to the single CEO in 2012, he held many leadership roles within the organization, including Co-CEO of the health system, President and CEO of the medical group, President of the RPH Medical Staff, and Vice-President for Clinical Affairs for the medical group. He currently serves as a Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Dr. Scopelliti is also a member of the Hospital Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania Board of Directors. A Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine in the subspecialty of Gastroenterology and the National Board of Medical Examiners, he is a published researcher and serves as the chairman of the Guthrie Graduate Medical Education Committee.
The Department of Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars recently recognized Dr. Scopelliti with the organization’s Outstanding Community Healthcare Employee of the Year Award for exemplary service and support to veterans and their families after establishing the Guthrie Veterans Committee, which continues to identify and fulfill needs for veterans in Guthrie’s coverage area.
