NEWS

April 23, 2017
Contact:
Amy Middleton, Director of Marketing
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IHA ANNOUNCES THE PASSING OF CEO WILLIAM J. FILETI

ANN ARBOR, MI – (April 23, 2017) – It is with deep sadness that we share with you the news of the passing of our CEO, William J. Fileti. Bill died Saturday, April 22, from cancer, diagnosed in October of 2016.

Bill was the founding President and CEO of IHA since 1994 when the leaders of Associates in Gynecology and Obstetrics, Associates in Internal Medicine, and Child Health Associates chose to form a group, founded on the principles of high quality, personalized, patient-centered care.

“IHA has lost an enormous piece of its heart and soul with the passing of our beloved CEO, Bill Fileti,” said Daniel McMurtrie, MD, IHA’s first PC President and Chairman of the Board. “Since its inception, our organization has benefited greatly from Bill’s leadership and vision. His untiring pursuit of excellence in everything he did, played an instrumental role in the success of our medical group. He has helped us achieve exponential growth while maintaining a focus on caring for our patients, a dedication to the well-being of the providers, and a commitment to the success of our employees. His name has become synonymous with IHA and he will be greatly missed by the entire IHA family.”

Since the beginning, IHA has focused on a patients’ first philosophy of care. Bill believed in a virtuous cycle of leading with doing what was right for patients, providers, and staff. Quality and performance would follow. As a result of his philosophy, vision, and drive, Bill achieved the following:

• Built a team making it possible for IHA to achieve outstanding quality scores that have been the best in Southeast Michigan since 2012 and recognized by Consumer Reports magazine as a top performer.
• Achieved top decile performance in all areas of patient, provider and staff satisfaction and engagement levels.
• Developed exceptional and favorable relationships in the broader health care community that included affiliated hospitals, payers, and several charitable organizations such as the United Way, serving on their board for several years.
• Through mergers, acquisitions, and outstanding recruitments, built IHA from a concept into the leading private medical group in southeast Michigan that serves nearly 470,000 primary and specialty care patients with over a million visits per year.
• Completed IHA's strategic merger with Trinity Health to serve as The Physician Enterprise for SJMHS. 
• Recruited a top caliber management team to run operations, and supported provider and non-provider leaders in growing their leadership skills and reaching their professional goals.
• Negotiated a master affiliation agreement with Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan.)
• Initiated diversification initiatives designed to reduce IHA’s exposure to the environment through the development of related business lines with real estate, clinical research, and imaging.
• Supported pioneering projects to re-engineer the delivery of health care with care management, behavioral health, and embedded pharmacists.

Bill achieved this success with a quiet, focused, engaged presence that never wavered. By meeting with each orientation group of new providers and staff, he connected with every person in IHA and spread the vision of personalized care through his example.

Cindy Elliott, IHA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) since 1999 and its President and COO for the last year characterized Bill “as a mentor, trusted advisor, and dear friend. Bill will be remembered as a sweet soul, who cared about people first and who lived out the IHA CARES Values daily.”

Bill spent his final months in California with his wonderful wife Cecilia, his two sons, Eric and Owen, daughter-in-law, Kristina, granddaughter Lana, and other members of his immediate and extended family.

A Candlelight Vigil celebrating Bill's life and many accomplishments will take place Thursday, May 4. Please view the invitation and map. All are welcome to attend.

For those wishing to send condolences to the family, please see our remembrance board directly below.