New physician leadership appointments are in progress at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), and were announced by Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP, President and Chief Executive Officer in November. One of those involves Robert X. Murphy Jr., MD, MS, FACS, CPE, Chief Medical Officer at Populytics, Inc., the population health management subsidiary of LVHN. Dr. Murphy has been named LVHN’s Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive. He was previously Chief Integration Officer at LVHN in addition to his role at Populytics. Dr. Murphy will assume his new responsibilities in relationship to the departure of Thomas V. Whalen, MD, , Chief Medical Officer, whose retirement is imminent.
In this expanded role, Dr. Murphy will maintain a sharp focus on the growth, investment, and service opportunities within Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG), and lead the existing and burgeoning relationships with independent physicians across the region. Additionally, Dr. Murphy will maintain his oversight of population health, community health, telehealth, and medical operations related to LVHN’s physician hospital organization, Valley Preferred, and the LVHN Accountable Care Organization (ACO). Through this combination of responsibilities and with Dr. Murphy’s extensive work as Chief Medical Officer of Populytics, he will lead LVHN’s movement toward fee-for-value and value-based reimbursement. Leaders in all clinical departments at LVHN report to Dr. Murphy, with some exceptions, where the clinical department is inherently linked to supporting the inpatient environment.
Dr. Murphy received his medical degree from New York University and his Master of Science degree in health evaluation sciences from Penn State University. He is board certified in plastic surgery and a professor of surgery at Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. He is past president and a current Trustee of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and treasurer of the International Confederation of Plastic Surgery Societies (ICOPLAST). Dr. Murphy is a past president of LVHN’s medical staff and a former member of LVHN’s Board of Trustees. He serves on the board of directors for the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council and the President’s Parents Advisory Council of James Madison University, and is involved with the Comprehensive Aesthetic Recovery Effort for Returning Wounded Veterans. Dr. Murphy joined LVHN in 1989 and currently holds the Anderson Endowed Chair in Health System Transformation.
Dr. Murphy is also a health care ambassador on an international level. As a founding member of ICOPLAST, he travels the world working with health care organizations and sometimes government officials. This works takes him to locations such as Brazil, where he has conferred on medical education reform, and to Egypt, where he has spoken on advances in surgical technique. He says he is “driven by a passion for building things and making things work; particularly things that are potential structures for good.”
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