VCU Health System CEO Named NAPH Executive Committee Member

Sheldon Retchin, M.D., MSPH, CEO of Virginia Commonwealth University Health System and vice president for health sciences at VCU, has been elected a 2012-2013 National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems executive committee member. His term will begin July 1.

The NAPH is the only national organization representing the interests of safety net hospitals and health systems before Congress and the presidential administration. Safety net hospitals provide high-quality health services for all patients, including the uninsured and underinsured, regardless of ability to pay. They provide many essential community-wide services, such as primary care, trauma care and neonatal intensive care, and train many of America's doctors, nurses, and other health care providers.

As a member of the NAPH executive committee, Retchin will help oversee the affairs of the NAPH and set its direction. Each term is two years, and members may serve on the executive committee for a maximum of three consecutive terms as at-large members.

Considered a national expert in health policy and health care delivery, Retchin has testified before Congress on safety net health systems and has been appointed to numerous national councils, committees and panels, including the Council on Graduate Medical Education and the National Health Care Workforce Commission. He directs VCU’s 865-licensed bed teaching hospital, including MCV Hospitals and the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, the MCV Physicians faculty practice plan with about 600 faculty physicians, and the Virginia Premier Heath Plan, a Medicaid health maintenance organization.

Additionally, Retchin has academic responsibility for VCU’s schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and allied health and is a practicing, board certified internist and professor of internal medicine, gerontology and health administration.