Value Care Alliance board members.
Patrick Charmel – President, VCA Board
President & CEO, Griffin Health Services Corporation
Patrick A. Charmel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Griffin Hospital and its parent organization, Griffin Health Services Corporation, has been associated with Griffin since 1979, when he served as a student intern while attending Quinnipiac University. After serving in a number of administrative positions, he became President in 1998. As President of Griffin Health Services Corporation, he is also the Chairman of Planetree Inc., a subsidiary corporation. Planetree is a not-for-profit organization that supports an alliance of over 1,000 care sites in 23 countries that are committed to patient empowerment and the delivery of patient centered care.
During his tenure, he has positioned Griffin Hospital as an award-winning, innovative organization, recognized as an industry leader in providing personalized, humanistic, consumer-driven health care in a healing environment. Under his leadership, Griffin has appeared on the Fortune Magazine list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for ten consecutive years. The Griffin Hospital management team was selected as the 2008 Top Leadership Team in Healthcare in the nation for community and mid-size hospitals by HealthLeaders Media.
Vincent Capece Jr.
President & CEO, Middlesex Health
Vincent G. Capece, Jr., is President and CEO of Middlesex Health in Middletown, CT. Prior to his current position, Mr. Capece held several executive positions at Middlesex since 1998, including Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations, and Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Middlesex Health, he was the Director of Accounting at Bridgeport Hospital, where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of that hospital’s financial operations, including internal and external financial reporting for the hospital and its affiliates, a position he held since 1990. From 1985-1990, Mr. Capece served as Audit Manager at Arthur Andersen LLP.
Mr. Capece received a Master’s in Business Administration and a B.S. in Accounting, magna cum laude, from the University of Connecticut. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Mr. Capece is currently a board member of VHA Northeast, the Middlesex County Community Foundation, Inc., the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and a past board member of the Middlesex United Way. His professional memberships include the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Andrew Agwunobi, M.D., M.B.A.
Chief Executive Officer for UConn Health
Dr. Andrew “Andy” Agwunobi, a pediatrician, is an experienced health system CEO with an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs for the University of Connecticut’s health system, UConn Health.
UConn Health includes a teaching hospital, outpatient faculty practice, a medical school, dental school, graduate school programs, research facilities, and incubator facilities for biotechnology startups. Prior to this role, he served as the President of Home Solutions for Humana Inc., which includes over 13,000 employees with combined revenues of $3 billion. Also, before joining Humana, Dr. Agwunobi served as UConn Health’s CEO and Interim President of the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Agwunobi has served in several high-profile leadership roles, including President and CEO of 1,100 bed Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia; CEO of Providence Healthcare, a five-hospital region of Providence Health & Services in Spokane, Washington; Secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration responsible for Florida’s $16 billion healthcare administration budget including Medicaid, as well as regulatory oversight of Managed care programs, home healthcare, and hospitals. Dr. Agwunobi also served as a managing director and co-leader of the healthcare financial and operational performance improvement practice of Berkeley Research Group (BRG), the sixth largest healthcare consulting firm in the U.S. He served as Chief Operating Officer of 14-hospital St. Joseph Health System in California, and President and CEO of Tenet South Fulton Hospital in East Point, Georgia. As a pediatrician, Dr. Agwunobi has practiced on both coasts, including at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston and Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California.
Dr. Agwunobi is a published author of two books: “An Insider’s Guide to Physician Engagement” (2018 Health Administration Press, Chicago) and “An Insider’s Guide to Working with Healthcare Consultants” (2019 Health Administration Press, Chicago).” In 2023, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Agwunobi one of the “10 Executives to Watch in 2024,” and in 2007, they named him one of the “50 Most Powerful Physician Executives” nationally. Also, in 2020, the Hartford Business Journal named Dr. Agwunobi one of Hartford’s “Power 25 in Healthcare” for his industry impact on public health. In 2005, Atlanta Business League named Dr. Agwunobi CEO of the Year; in 2003, Tenet Healthcare awarded Dr. Agwunobi its “CEO Circle of Excellence” award; in 2004, Atlanta Peachtree Rotary named Dr. Agwunobi “Speaker and Citizen of the Year” and in 2002 Catalyst Magazine awarded Dr. Agwunobi its “Agent of Change Award.”
Dr. Agwunobi lives in Westport, CT, with his wife Elizabeth, a hospitalist, and their two daughters, Hannah and Rebekah.