Mark Harrison Appointed CFO of UC San Diego Health Sciences

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Mark Harrison appointed CFO of UC San Diego Health Sciences.

Mark Harrison has been appointed as the new chief financial officer (CFO) for UC San Diego Health Sciences, effective March 23, 2015. As CFO, Mark will collaborate with university leadership to ensure the strong financial health of the globally-recognized UC San Diego Health Sciences enterprise, overseeing a budget of more than $2.4 billion.

“We are pleased to have Mark join UC San Diego Health Sciences at a critical juncture of growth and integration of the health system’s clinical network,” said Paul Viviano, CEO, UC San Diego Health System and associate vice chancellor, UC San Diego Health Sciences. “Mark’s extensive experience as an accomplished leader in the complex sector of health, finance and performance management will enhance our financial stability and help preserve our academic mission while providing patients the best value for care.”

Harrison will develop and implement financial strategies and budgets to achieve UC San Diego Health Sciences’ financial goals and objectives, as well as consistent systems of financial reporting standards and controls across UC San Diego School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC San Diego Medical Group, and UC San Diego Health System.

Harrison will be responsible for ensuring efficient and effective funds flow between UC San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Health System, as well as cost control and standardized reporting among the organizations. He will also oversee the implementation and operations of integrated financial support departments that will function as shared services for accounting, procurement, billing, decision support and contracting.

Previously, Harrison was principal and founder of Apex Healthcare Group, a company that advises boards and CEOs of health care companies, and the senior vice president, Investments for Growth, Quality and Total Cost of Care Division at Accretive Health, Inc., which focused on the development of population health offerings designed for health systems, medical groups and health plans.

In his prior role as CFO of DaVita, a Fortune 500 public company specializing in renal care, Harrison’s responsibilities included investor relations, general and administrative expense management, risk management and certain strategic roles, in addition to the finance functions. Prior to DaVita, he served as the CFO of Allina Hospitals and Clinics, a large integrated delivery system based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His executive oversight responsibilities at Allina included strategy and business development, internal consulting, supply chain, revenue cycle and payer contracting, as well as the finance function. Earlier in his career, Harrison was a founder and principal of Shattuck Hammond Partners, a health care specialty investment bank.

Harrison received his Master in Business Administration and Master in Public Health degrees from Columbia University in New York after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Psychology from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He has been an active public speaker throughout his career and received the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s annual National Institute Distinguished Speaker Award in 2001. He has also produced many publications and was selected to receive a $570,000 research grant from the California Healthcare Foundation to assess the financial health of California’s hospitals.

UC San Diego Health Sciences is internationally recognized as a place where discoveries are delivered – bringing breakthroughs from the research lab to patients' bedsides. Established in 1968, UC San Diego School of Medicine is consistently ranked among the top research-intensive medical school programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report and, in 2014, had the ninth highest National Institutes of Health total funding of 136 schools of medicine in the U.S. Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences opened in 2000 as the only public school of pharmacy in the region, and the second in the state of California.

UC San Diego Health System, the region's only academic health system, is consistently ranked #1 in the San Diego area by U.S. News & World Report with national rankings in 11 adult specialties, placing it among the top 50 hospitals in the country. UC San Diego Health System was recently named by Truven Health Analytics as one of the nation’s Top 100 Hospitals based on measures such as patient care, operational efficiency and financial stability. Additionally, Leapfrog Group named UC San Diego Health System as a Top Hospital, with ‘A’ Hospital Safety Scores, placing it among the safest hospitals in the United States.

UC San Diego Health System is comprised of UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and UC San Diego Thornton Hospital, Moores Cancer Center (one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country), Shiley Eye Institute, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center and Jacobs Medical Center (opening 2016) in La Jolla, as well as other primary and specialty practices located throughout Southern California.