Cottonwood Heights— Greg R. Angle, president of MountainStar Healthcare, has been honored for his distinguished service in the healthcare industry in the state of Utah by Utah Healthcare Executives (UHE), the Utah Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Angle was awarded the organization’s “Senior-Level Healthcare Executive Award” for 2020.
The Healthcare Executive Awards are given to healthcare executives who have demonstrated their consistent professionalism and excellence in healthcare leadership roles.
“That takes hard work and dedication any year, but to have accomplished that in 2020, a year that called on healthcare leaders like never before, is truly outstanding,” said Amanda Choudhary, American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Regent for Utah.
MountainStar Healthcare’s goal since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to protect its colleagues, both their lives and their livelihoods. Over the course of the pandemic, the company has managed its PPE supply such that it has had more than adequate to protect its frontline colleagues. The company put several pay programs in place early in the pandemic to protect colleagues financially – including a “Pandemic Pay” program that compensated colleagues at 70 percent of their base pay for any hours lost as a result of the pandemic. The company’s senior leadership – including Angle – took salary cuts of up to 30 percent in April, May and June to help fund the programs. To date, the company has not had to lay-off or furlough any full- or part-time employees. Due to such efficient management, the company also was able to return and payback early all CARES Act funding this past fall.
Additionally in 2020, five MountainStar Healthcare hospitals were named “100 Top Hospitals” in the nation by IBM Watson Health. Angle regularly uses his position as president of one of the four main health systems in Utah to advocate for key health policy and legislative initiatives to ensure that Utah remains a beacon and example to other states for affordable, high quality healthcare. Angle is also known as a servant-leader who never fails to ask what he can do to help his team be successful.
“Receiving an award such is this is an honor at any time, but I’m particularly humbled to receive this award in the throes of a global pandemic,” Angle said. “As leaders, we tend to get a lot of the credit, but it’s those in the trenches who execute the plan day-to-day, frequently in the shadows with little to no fanfare. One thing this pandemic has done is helped shine the spotlight on the critical role our frontline caregivers play in our society, and have always played. This award, really, is a recognition of the collective work of our organization over the course of the pandemic, particularly of those on the frontlines, without whom what we do as leaders is immaterial.”
“If I’ve made a leadership contribution especially at this time,” Angle continued, “it’s because God has given me a passion to improve others’ lives, the privilege to work alongside incredible talent, parents who demonstrated the importance of making a difference in our community, and an amazing wife of 38 years and family, who have supported me throughout my entire career.”
Other receiving Healthcare Executive Awards for 2020 included Alison Flynn-Gaffney, Executive Director, University of Utah Health (Senior-Level Healthcare Executive) and Brent Schmidt, Administrator, Sevier Valley Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare (Early Career Healthcare Executive).
With more than 48,000 members nationwide, ACHE is the preeminent professional association for healthcare executives in the US.