UIHC creates new ‘physician executive’ position; hires Minnesota CEO

IOWA CITY — With its already-sprawling campus continuing to grow both in Iowa City and across the region and state, University of Iowa Health Care has created a new administrative position for a “physician executive.”

  Buy Photo

As inaugural chief physician executive for UI Health Care, Bevan Yueh, beginning July 31, will work to integrate clinical care across the UIHC system, including at its inpatient hospitals, within its physician groups, and at other “current and future sites of care.”

“This new role will create systemwide clinical standards that support a culture focused on compassion, respect, excellence, safety, and teamwork,” according to a UIHC press release in June 2024 announcing a national search to fill the new position.

In announcing its selection of Yueh for the job this month, UI Health Care praised him as a nationally recognized “physician leader who will bring a fresh vision for improving operations across our entire clinical care enterprise,” according to Denise Jamieson, UI vice president for medical affairs and Carver College of Medicine dean.

Yueh, in joining UIHC, also will serve as a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in the Carver College of Medicine.

His total salary appointment is $950,000, making him the third-highest-paid UIHC executive -- behind Jamieson, making $1.3 million, and UIHC CEO Brad Haws, making $1.1 million.

News of Yueh’s hire came two weeks after UIHC opened a new $525.6 million 469,060-square-foot inpatient hospital in North Liberty — adding to its main Iowa City medical center, new downtown campus, Stead Family Children’s Hospital, and more than 70 clinics.

The UIHC clinical enterprise comprises nearly 20,000 staff members, including more than 1,200 doctors and dentists, nearly 800 residents and fellows, and more than 5,300 nursing staff.

In addition to other renovation and expansion projects systemwide, UIHC is developing plans to build a new inpatient tower on its main campus costing more than $1 billion.

UI Health Care’s current “clinical enterprise leadership” team includes 20 — plus others outside the clinical operation — like UIHC otolaryngologist Douglas Van Daele, who serves as executive director of UI Physicians, the UI College of Medicine-based medical and surgical group encompassing more than 1,400 doctors across 19 departments.

Minnesota medicine

Yueh — like Van Daele — is an otolaryngologist who currently serves as chief executive officer of University of Minnesota Physicians, which like UI Physicians is a multi-specialty group practice for university medical school faculty there.

He also serves as vice dean for clinical affairs at the University of Minnesota Medical School — a dual role that in the 2023 budget year earned him a total compensation of $899,900, according to federal tax filings for the University of Minnesota Physicians.

He previously served as chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School — where he worked with former UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Brooks Jackson.

Yueh actually was on the search committee in 2013 that selected Jackson as dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School and vice president for health sciences — a role he held until succeeding Jean Robillard in 2017 as UI vice president for medical affairs and Carver College of Medicine dean.

Jackson resigned from both leadership posts in 2023 but remains on the UI faculty as a pathology professor, making an annual salary this year of $347,613 — more than any other full professor in the department outside the executive officer.

‘As we evolve’

The UIHC search to find an inaugural chief physician executive, launched in June 2024, involved a 15-person search committee — co-chaired by Marlan Hansen, chair of the UI Department of Otolaryngology, and Senior Associate Dean for External Affairs of the Carver College of Medicine Gerry Clancy.

“We’re looking for a physician leader committed to superior patient outcomes who will build trust and cultivate strong relationships with clinicians and leaders across the organization,” Jamieson said at the time. “I believe we are well-positioned to attract strong candidates who can continue to build on our system’s strengths and attain new levels of excellence in support of our tripartite mission.”

Yueh earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and a master’s in public health from the Yale University School of Epidemiology and Public Health. He completed his residency and clinical training at Johns Hopkins University, followed by a research fellowship at Yale University.

He’s been on the medical staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Yale New Haven Hospital, and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, University of Washington Hospital, and Harborview Hospital in Seattle before moving to the University of Minnesota in 2007.

Yueh’s surgical practice has focused on the ablation of head and neck cancers. And his epidemiological focus has been on improving hearing health, along with function and quality of life of patients treated for head and neck cancer.

“I’m excited to welcome him to UI Health Care and partner with him to further develop our systemwide clinical standards as we evolve as a clinical care enterprise,” Jamieson said. “Working together with clinicians and leaders across the organization, we want to continue to improve access for Iowans and create a more seamless, coordinated patient care experience that aligns with our mission, vision, and values.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com