News
St. Luke’s University Health Network is pleased to announce that John Nespoli has been appointed President of the St Luke’s Gnaden Huetten / Palmerton campuses in Carbon County, and that Frank Ford has been appointed President of St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus in Allentown.
“Frank Ford has agreed to take on the role at the Sacred Heart Campus and to continue to build on the great foundation established by John Nespoli over the past decade,” St. Luke’s Chief Operating Officer Joel Fagerstrom said. “We are very fortunate to have two exceptional leaders take on these important roles at this exciting time in St. Luke’s history.”
Nespoli is assuming the role of St Luke’s Gnaden Huetten / Palmerton President from St. Luke’s West President William Moyer, who has been overseeing the campuses on an interim basis.
Nespoli joined St. Luke’s upon St. Luke’s merger with Sacred Heart HealthCare System in March. Nespoli had served as President and CEO of Sacred Heart since 2009. Previously he oversaw operations at Guthrie Health System in Sayre, Pa., after serving in senior executive roles at health care systems through the Northeast.
“John joined us at a time when the future of Sacred Heart was uncertain. He has done a remarkable job of expanding services at the hospital, meeting the needs of our community, creating a quality profile that is outstanding and partnering to improve the neighborhood surrounding the hospital,” said Paul Huck, Chairman of the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart board. “He also led our process to join St. Luke’s University Health Network, ensuring the long-term future of the hospital in a time of great change in health care. We are grateful for John’s leadership over the past decade and know that the Gnaden Huetten and Palmerton campuses are getting a great leader for the hospital and community.
“While we will most certainly miss John, we are pleased to welcome Frank and look forward to working with him in his new role.”
Ford has been responsible for facilitating Sacred Heart’s assimilation into St. Luke’s since he became the Network’s Chief Integration Officer earlier this year. Previously, he served as President of St. Luke’s Allentown Campus for 12 years, overseeing a major expansion of services at the hospital.
Since joining St. Luke’s earlier this year, both Sacred Heart and the Gnaden Huetten / Palmerton campuses have undergone substantive improvements. St. Luke’s has invested tens of millions of dollars to raise salaries, upgrade infrastructure and install Epic, an electronic medical record system widely considered the gold-standard of the health care industry.
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About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 14,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows. St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. In 2018, St. Luke’s was named a Top Hospital in the Teaching Hospital category by the Leapfrog Group. It has also repeatedly earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) – six times total and four years in a row including 2018. Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.
