Joe Landsman Named Compliance Monitor For Ballad COPA

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Ralph Avarado, MD, FACP, in consultation with Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti today announced that Joe Landsman will replace Larry Fitzgerald as the Ballad COPA monitor. In his new role, Landsman will be responsible for evaluating the continued public advantage of the COPA by monitoring Ballad’s compliance with the COPA and the terms of certification and working with the department and Attorney General’s office to assess Ballad’s performance against the established index measures.

Landsman has been with the University of Tennessee Health System in Knoxville since 1999 and has served as president and chief executive officer for the past 18 years. Prior to that, he held the positions of executive vice president, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“We are fortunate that someone of Joe Landsman’s caliber is willing to step into this critical role,” Alvarado said. “We appreciate Larry’s service and the contribution he has made to this unprecedented COPA process over the past five years and are grateful that he is willing to postpone his retirement until Joe is able to come on board.”

As outlined in state statute, the duties of the monitor include:

• Reviewing reports from Ballad for completeness and compliance with the COPA and the terms of certification;
• Reviewing semi-annual reports of the COPA compliance officer concerning complaints related to the COPA or the terms of certification;
• Conducting audits to verify information provided in required reports and/or to determine compliance with the COPA and terms of certification;
• Reviewing and making recommendations to the commissioner concerning any requests for modification of any provision of the COPA and the terms of certification submitted by Ballad;
• Reporting on a regular basis to the department any findings of noncompliance or any areas where Ballad is not achieving target outcomes and/or is failing to meet the index scores needed to demonstrate continued public advantage, along with any recommendations of enforcement mechanisms; and
• Providing an annual report to the department that should include index scores, updates on compliance with the COPA and the terms of certification, the status of existing corrective actions, any recommended enforcement mechanisms, any additional findings of the COPA monitor, and any other information requested by the department.

“Joe Landsman’s extensive experience leading the University of Tennessee Medical Center makes him the right choice to succeed Larry Fitzgerald as the compliance monitor for the Ballad COPA,” Attorney General Skrmetti said in a statement. “I would like to thank Larry Fitzgerald for his half-decade of dedicated service to the people and State of Tennessee. “

Landsman has served in the health care arena for nearly 40 years including serving in executive vice president and chief financial officer roles at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas. He also served as vice president for finance and chief information officer at Children’s Health System in Norfolk. Before that, he served as the administrator for Children’s Hospital Faculty Associates at the Children’s Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He served as manager of general accounting at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore and began his career as a senior accountant at Arthur Andersen & Company.

He earned his bachelor of arts degree in accounting from Loyola College in Baltimore. Landsman will assume his new role as COPA monitor April 2, 2024. Fitzgerald will remain serving in the role until that time.

The mission of the Tennessee Department of Health is to protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee. Learn more about TDH services and programs at www.tn.gov/health.

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