New VP of Medical Affairs Named at Good Samaritan Hospital

Rodney W. Williams, a doctor, lawyer and administrator, has been named vice president for medical affairs for Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern and as the chief medical officer for its parent company, Bon Secours Charity Health System.

Bon Secours CEO Philip A. Patterson said Williams will have day-to-day responsibilities focused on Good Samaritan, while he also supports the medical staffs at St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick, N.Y. and Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, N.Y. 

“We are delighted to have an individual as respected and accomplished as Dr. Williams to lead our physicians as vice president medical affairs,” said Patterson.  “With the depth of his experiences and the breadth of his understanding of today’s health care delivery model, I am confident that he will achieve the important and ambitious goals that we have jointly set for him at Bon Secours Charity, and that he will be an outstanding physician leader for our System.”

Patterson said Williams will oversee developing, implementing and monitoring systems and processes that ensure quality of care, patient safety and evidence-based medical standards.    

For the past 15 years, Williams served as vice president of medical and legal affairs, and later as executive vice president and chief medical officer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, a 300-bed acute care community teaching hospital affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland.   

Patterson said that of particular importance is that Williams will serve as the physician leader of Bon Secours’ “Clinical Transformation” process, working with an inter-disciplinary team to achieve care delivery excellence for patients. He will support the ConnectCare electronic medical records initiative and oversee regulatory compliance, medical staff services and peer review, case management, managed care and discharge planning, medical education, and physician credentialing. 

Williams was a practicing attorney focused on health care law, in addition to being a physician and an administrator. He received his AB in Human Biology from Stanford University, and his MD from The University of California School of Medicine in San Diego, completing his internship and residency at the University of Colorado Affiliated Hospitals in Denver.

He later earned his law degree at Stanford University School of Law, and furthered his education by receiving a MS in Medical Informatics from Northwestern University.  He was fellowship trained in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, and completed a clinical fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School in Boston. 

Williams is a member of the American College of Physician Executives.