Catholic health giant Ascension, which is drawing scrutiny for its rapid growth and for-profit operations, will bring in Ketchum partner Nick Ragone as chief communications officer in June.
Ragone, who ran Ketchum's Washington office for the past three years after starting out in New York with the firm, takes the new CCO post June 23 overseeing communications for the network of hospitals, healthcare facilities and medical companies across 23 states. He reports to EVP John Doyle, who is also president/CEO of Ascension Holdings, a portfolio of medical device companies.
Ascension formed in 1999 when St. Louis' Daughters of Charity National Health System merged with Michigan's Sisters of St. Joseph Health System, the country's largest Cahtolic and non-profit health system, although it has for-profit operations and investments and 2013 revenue of $17B. It claims more than 155K employees in 1,900 healthcare facilities.
Ascension's rapid growth and profits have raised eyebrows over its charity designation.
Ragone handled clients like Universal Health Services, FedEx, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Express Scripts at Ketchum.
Heyman Associates helped with the search.
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