Howe, Buser nominated for ‘most powerful’ list
Hospital executives G. Edwin Howe of Aurora Health Care of Milwaukee and Kenneth Buser of All Saints Healthcare in Racine have been nominated for a national publication’s list of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare."
Howe and Buser are among 300 nominees for the list, which is being compiled by Modern Healthcare, a weekly magazine for health care executives published by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Howe and Buser are nominated in the "Not-For-Profit Hospitals" category of the awards.
Readers of the publication, who include executives throughout the nation from various facets of the health care industry, selected the nominees and are voting for the finalists for the list, which will be announced Aug. 25.
Howe is the president and chief executive officer of Aurora Health Care.
David Burda, editor of Modern Healthcare, said he believed Howe was nominated because of Aurora’s participation in a new Midicare pilot project that promotes quality improvement efforts at hospitals across the country.
"He (Howe)was actually voted by our readers to make the ballot of 300. We asked our readers to nominate people," Burda said. "His system (Aurora) has been out front in volunteering for that pilot project. That’s why readers felt he should be up there, if he’s got the guts to do that."
Buser is the president and chief executive officer of All Saints Healthcare, which continues to grow and modify its system.
All Saints was formed in 1991 when Racine’s two hospitals — St. Luke’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center — were united into the All Saints Healthcare System.
In 1994, the hospitals integrated with the city’s two major physician groups, Kurten Medical Group and Racine Medical Clinic.
Recently, the All Saints Cancer Center formed an alliance with the M.D. Anderson Physicians Network, one of the highest-rated cancer treatment centers in the nation.
Also, All Saints Medical Center became one of the first hospitals in the nation to use a new technique in heart surgery for treating atrial fibrillation. With the new technique, patients hearts continue to beat during surgery.
Other Wisconsin executives nominated for the magazine’s list include Javon Bea, president and chief executive officer of Mercy Health System in Janesville, and John Toussaint, chief executive officer of ThedaCare in Appleton.
Burda said 865 executives received votes from 8,500 votes cast by the publication’s readers. The full list of nominees is posted on the magazine’s Web site, www.modernhealthcare.com.
Modern Healthare, which has a circulation of 71,0000 readers, first began publishing its annual list in 2002.
Aug. 8, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
