Officials named Bill Elliott as the chief executive officer of the Medical Faculty Associates, according to a University release Tuesday.
The release states Elliott will guide the MFA — a group of physicians and faculty from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and GW Hospital — in its operational performance, financial standards and sustainable operations. Elliott has served as the interim CEO of the MFA after taking over the role from School of Medicine and Health Sciences Dean Barbara Bass in May.
“The first several months at GW have shown me that there is great potential in the clinical arm of the academic medical enterprise,” Elliott said in the release.
The MFA is currently in $200 million of debt to the University and has a deficit of $250 million since FY 2020. CFO Bruno Fernandes projected in February that the organization would lose another $30 million to $50 million during FY 2024.
The MFA is a nonprofit organization independent from the University that GW gained more control over in 2018 through the ability to appoint board members, approve the hiring of the CEO and annual budgets and make amendments to its bylaws.
University President Ellen Granberg said in the release that she is “confident” the MFA will reach its immediate and long-term goals under Elliott’s leadership.
Granberg said in September that the MFA has continued to make payments to the University on time and that officials have increasingly viewed the MFA as a “modern clinical management practice.”
“Bringing Bill in, for me, was one of the most important things that happened this year so that we could have someone overseeing this who understood and could identify where the improvements are needed,” Granberg said in a September interview.
Ellen Zane, the chair of the MFA Board of Trustees, said in the release Elliott has addressed the most “pressing” challenges to the organization and built processes for recovery and growth.
“He brings extensive experience in leading comprehensive clinical and business operations, business development and revenue cycle activities in ambulatory and hospital-based settings,” Zane said in the release. “He is an experienced leader and has the business acumen to stabilize the organization and forge the way to a successful future.”
Elliott will also serve in a new role as the senior associate administrative dean for clinical affairs at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where he will work with Bass’ leadership team.
“By adding the role of senior associate administrative dean for clinical affairs, we demonstrate the unification and mutual dependence of our academic and clinical entities, the essential components of the academic medical enterprise, which is GW Medicine: clinical medicine, education and discovery,” Bass said in the release.
Officials are also currently searching for a new MFA CFO after Robin Nichols left the role in August, less than nine months after assuming the role from Lance Kaplan in September 2023.
When Elliott was appointed interim CEO in May, it marked the third time in the last decade the MFA has changed leadership. The MFA hired Robert Kelly as CEO and Steve McDonald as CFO in January 2017 after terminating former CEO Stephen Badger and appointed Bass the CEO after GW acquired more control over the organization in December 2018.
Faculty Senators have asked for increased transparency for at least the past three years about the MFA’s debt and how it impacts funding to other GW schools and colleges. The Faculty Senate passed a resolution in February requesting the Board of Trustees examine the MFA’s debt and how it is impacting “underfunded areas” of the University like student financial aid and undergraduate education.
