Date: 09/01/2015

The term “integration” derives from the Latin word for “renewal.” And that’s fitting, because renewal is what’s happening now in the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians (OJHP) as it integrates the Clinical Practice Association (CPA) and Johns Hopkins Community Physicians (JHCP). Formed in 2011, the OJHP has been merging the CPA’s and JHCP’s operations for the past two years under the direction of John Flynn and Steve Kravet, both vice presidents in the OJHP.

“The CPA and JHCP had separate everything: practice management, medical records, education, compliance, billing. We’ve put them together now to make best use of our collective expertise,” says William Baumgartner, the Vincent L. Gott Professor of Cardiac Surgery and senior vice president for the OJHP. For instance, the CPA’s billing office has been particularly strong. Since the time JHCP moved its billing people into the CPA billing department, JHCP doctors have seen their reimbursements rise.

Now Kimberlee Sherbrooke has joined Johns Hopkins Medicine to continue the work as chief operating officer of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians. She also holds the title of vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Sherbrooke manages many core functions including the revenue cycle, practice management, physician training, Access Services and telemedicine. She also is leading efforts to develop the Medical Services Office to expand the network of Johns Hopkins–affiliated physicians.

Before joining Johns Hopkins, Sherbrooke was the chief operating officer for Indiana University Health Physicians, a large multispecialty group practice in Indianapolis that is integrated with Indiana University Health. In that role, she brought together more than 50 private groups and academic departments, oversaw practice operations in some 150 locations and physician services in 11 hospitals, and helped develop a centralized call center focused on single-call resolution.

“Kim aggregated 1,500 doctors into a network in Indiana, and Johns Hopkins is doing similar work now. We were fortunate to hire her. As a high-level operations person, she brings a level of expertise we didn’t have,” Baumgartner says.

Sherbrooke says she is excited to be part of the Johns Hopkins culture. “It is about desiring to be successful for all the right reasons. This job seemed a great opportunity to take what I’ve done and learned, and apply it to an institution with Johns Hopkins’ reputation,” she says.

In addition to advancing the integration of the CPA’s and JHCP’s operations, Sherbrooke is part of a team that seeks to expand the Medical Services Office’s functions to outside practices to better align them with the Johns Hopkins network and to serve patients across a wider geographic region. “An integrated network of physicians in the Johns Hopkins health system will make us a stronger enterprise and will be better for patients,” Sherbrooke says.

An Indiana native, Sherbrooke earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Purdue University and a master’s degree in health administration from Indiana University. She is a fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives and the chair of the American Medical Group Association’s Chief Operating Officer Leadership Council.