IRVING, TX – The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) announced today Ashley McClellan, chief operating officer of Medical Center of Lewisville, was chosen as the 2011 Young Healthcare Executive of the Year. The annual award honors youthful North Texas professionals who display key abilities of future healthcare leaders.
“North Texas is fortunate to have executives like Ashley McClellan contributing to the future of healthcare and continuing a successful tradition of excellence,” said W. Stephen Love, president and chief executive officer of DFWHC. “Her dependable work on her hospital’s emergency department has dramatically improved performance.”
The DFWHC Board of Trustees created the young healthcare executive award in 2005 to recognize contributions of young men and women in healthcare administration. The board serves as judges. Nominees must be 40 years of age or younger and employed at an executive level by a DFWHC-member hospital.
McClellan designed the first North Texas freestanding emergency department (ER) with an attached outpatient imaging center in a neighboring community (Flower Mound). Her work has increased annual ER visits by 10,000. The site had a joint commission “perfect survey” with zero findings. She is leading an initiative to improve patient flow from ER to discharge or admission. Under her leadership, Medical Center of Lewisville has reduced average turnaround time by 79 minutes and is leading the market with the lowest ER wait-time of six minutes (national average one hour).
In addition to McClellan, nominees included Jeremy Clark, chief of staff, Tenet Healthcare; Laura Quenette McWhorter, vice president and chief operating officer, Texas Health Harris Methodist Foundation; Jackie Middleton, vice president human resource operations, Methodist Health System; Jeff Nieman, senior vice president operations, Conifer Revenue Cycle Solutions (Tenet); and Scott Schmidly, chief operating officer, ethics and compliance officer, Medical City Dallas Hospital and Medical City Children’s Hospital.
McClellan will receive the award during DFWHC’s Annual Awards Luncheon, Oct. 20 at the Arlington Convention Center, with Ted Koppel serving as keynote speaker. The event is sponsored in part by Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP and GroupOne Services, Inc. For information, contact Kristin Alexander or Chris Wilson at 972-719-4900.
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council is a 75 member-driven organization with 43 years of service to North Texas healthcare. Governed by a 13-member board, the hospital trade association is committed to the continuous improvement of patient care.