HCN News & Notes

Baystate Medical Center President Named Trustee of Massachusetts Health & Hospital Assoc.

SPRINGFIELD — Sam Skura, president of Baystate Medical Center and senior vice president of Hospital Operations for Baystate Health, has been elected to the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Assoc. (MHA) board of trustees.

MHA serves as a voice for the Commonwealth’s hospitals and health systems. As an MHA board member, Skura will help advance the Massachusetts healthcare community’s mission to provide affordable, equitable, and high-quality care for patients in Massachusetts.

“Sam has earned a stellar reputation as a leader and change maker in his more than 25 years working on behalf of patients and healthcare organizations in Massachusetts,” MHA President and CEO Steve Walsh said. “Given his deep experience in hospital operations, culture building, and innovation, he will be an invaluable voice for our board, just as he is for the people of Western Massachusetts.”

MHA’s board of trustees steers the direction of the association’s advocacy efforts on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill. After three years of a destabilizing pandemic, the board’s immediate focus remains on rebuilding the healthcare workforce, resolving the current capacity crisis, and ushering in the next chapter of high-quality healthcare for patients across the Commonwealth.

“I am honored and humbled to represent Baystate Health and to collaborate with hospital colleagues throughout Massachusetts in advocating for high-quality and affordable care across the Commonwealth,” Skura said.

Before joining Baystate in September 2022, Skura served as chief operating officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Prior to that, he was vice president of Clinical Operations at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, where he served on the leadership team of a combined group practice of more than 500 physicians and a 335-bed inpatient hospital.

He also held administrative roles at Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, where he provided oversight to senior leadership for 16 community health centers/practice sites and a three-campus Emergency Department. He was administrative director for Steward Health Care (formerly Caritas Christi Health Care System) in Boston, where he provided management for the largest emergency-medicine group in Massachusetts. He also held managerial roles at Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Partners Healthcare in Boston and Fallon Healthcare System in Worcester.