Trinity Health Leadership

Over his 37-year career in health care, Joseph R. Swedish has built a legacy of vibrant leadership and service excellence. Since becoming President and CEO of Trinity Health in January 2005, Mr. Swedish has focused on the transformation of health care delivery through improved clinical and business processes and expanding access to the growing population of underinsured patients. His leadership was the driving force behind Trinity Health’s prominent national Find A Way advocacy campaign, which sought a health care reform package that provided coverage, access and value for all. This advocacy, combined with Mr. Swedish’s profound understanding of the industry’s changing market forces, has prepared Trinity Health for the new era of health care.

Under Mr. Swedish’s direction, Trinity Health, the nation’s fourth-largest Catholic health system, has leveraged its scale and skill to provide efficient and effective quality care. He has guided Trinity Health to accelerate its financial and operational performance as the result of strategic initiatives focused on eight imperatives: community benefit ministry, patient care excellence, growth, financial stewardship, best people, accelerated integration, physician alignment and ambulatory health networks. Trinity Health is a renowned leader in quality improvement and innovation, having been recognized by Thomson Reuters in 2009 as one of the nation’s Top 10 Health Systems for quality care and having received the National Committee for Quality Health Care 2004 Award.

During his tenure at Trinity Health, Mr. Swedish has made Diversity and Inclusion cultural priorities that are critical to success. He designated himself Chief Diversity Officer in 2006 and holds all leaders accountable for creating an environment where the workforce reflects the diverse customer base Trinity Health serves.

Mr. Swedish has held a variety of senior executive positions in both investor-owned and non-profit health care systems. His experience spans faith-based and secular health care, university and community-based academic medical centers, integrated delivery systems and regional rural referral hospitals in the mid-Atlantic states, Florida, Colorado and now nine states that encompass Trinity Health’s markets.

Prior to joining Trinity Health, Mr. Swedish was President and CEO of Centura Health, the largest health care provider in Colorado with 12 hospitals that combined the operations of Catholic and Seven Day Adventist hospitals. The faith-based system won both national and international awards for excellence in patient care and for the successful incorporation of spirituality into the health care workplace. He has also served as President of the East Florida and Central Florida Divisions for the Hospital Corporation of America from 1994 through 1998.

He currently serves as a member of the National Quality Forum Board, Catholic Health Association Board of Trustees, the National Center of Healthcare Leadership Board, and the Coventry Health Care Board of Directors.

He has served as Chairman of the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity in Health Management, as a member of the Special Advisory Group on Improving Hospital Care for Minorities, and the Nonprofit System CEO group examining health care tax-exempt status. He has also been a member of the AHA’s Long Range Policy Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Payment for Health Services. He was also a member of the AHA Regional Policy Board – Region 8. In 1999, he was elected Chairman of the Colorado Hospital Association Board of Directors.

Mr. Swedish has appeared in Modern Healthcare’s “Top 100 Most Powerful Leaders in Healthcare” every year since 2006. In 2009, he was honored with the CEO Diversity Leadership Award from Diversity Best Practices. He has been recognized with the University Medal by the Board of Regents for the University of Colorado, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year - Rocky Mountain Region, and the 2004 Career Achievement Regent’s Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s degree in health administration from Duke University.