Bassetts Dr Tommy Ibrahim is a Beckers Hospital Review Rural CEO to Know

Cooperstown, NY – Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, President & CEO of Bassett Healthcare Network, has been named to a select list of esteemed healthcare industry professionals within Becker’s Hospital Review’s article, 80 Rural Hospital CEOs to Know 2023.

As noted in the article: “Rural hospitals are critical to the success of the U.S. healthcare system to expand access to care in remote areas. CEOs at the helm of these important community institutions have many responsibilities to make sure their hospitals thrive.”

The Becker’s article continues: “The executives featured on this list have put their heart and soul into ensuring their communities have access to the best healthcare services possible. While rural hospitals across the country have faced closure in recent years, these leaders have developed a model for not only surviving but thriving.” 

“The headwinds against us are serious,” says Dr. Ibrahim, who was also recently featured in "Lessons from the C-suite," a podcast series hosted by Advisory Board President Eric Larsen that covers conversations with the most influential leaders in healthcare. “But I also believe that some of the very elements that have conventionally been regarded as disadvantageous to rural systems — like wide geographic areas, scarcity of hospital beds and physicians, geographic maldistribution of doctors, insufficient reimbursement, etc. — may, in fact, turn out to be advantages in a digital health age.”

“At the end of the day, the vision is for Bassett to be the model of care for rural health in the U.S.,” Dr. Ibrahim continued. “We believe we can transform and redesign the care delivery model for rural communities in a way that will reduce persistent healthcare disparities and improve outcomes.”

Dr. Ibrahim’s complete interview with the Advisory Board is available here.

Bassett Healthcare Network based in Cooperstown, New York, is an integrated health system that provides care and services to people living in rural central New York State, a 5,600 square mile area equivalent to the size of Connecticut. The organization includes five corporately affiliated hospitals, over two dozen community-based health centers, more than 20 school-based health centers, two skilled nursing facilities, other health partners in related fields, and employs over 630 practitioners in its medical group.

“I'm grateful for the ability to be a healthcare leader in this environment. As counterintuitive as that may sound – and as complex and exhausting as it is – having the opportunity to shape the future of healthcare in this country and especially in rural America is an enormous privilege,” concluded Dr. Ibrahim.