Gerard van Grinsven

Healthcare Innovator; President & CEO, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital

Mel Blake:
617-252-2472
mel_blake@monitor.com

Mike McKenna:
617-252-2410
mike_mckenna@monitor.com

Healthy Living, The Ritz Carlton Way

Gerard van Grinsven’s commitment to service excellence is legendary. In all, he has opened 20 Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide, with each achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction. Building on his philosophy of employee and customer engagement, van Grinsven parlayed his experience in the luxury hotel business to an industry where he takes care of a different type of “guest”—healthcare.

In 2009, amid the worst economic downturn in more than a generation, the $360-million Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital opened in West Bloomfield, Michigan under Gerard’s leadership and direction. It’s a LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design)-certified, Feng Shui-designed hospital and community wellness center with private rooms, landscaped courtyards and 160 acres of wetlands and woodlands. Many of the innovations incorporated were geared toward improving outcomes and reducing expenses. For example, having all private rooms decreases the chances of infection, meaning less patients getting sick while they are in the hospital and a reduction in readmission rates and length of stay.

With satisfaction scores in the 99th percentile nationally, it’s an extraordinary example of what healthcare in this country could look like. In addition to the great clinical excellence Henry Ford West Bloomfield brings to the table, Gerard's goal was to create a community center for well-being, instead of just a hospital. From a full service wellness and integrative medicine center, to a destination healthy café, to retail shops focused on healthy living adjacent to a 90 seat kitchen auditorium that holds cooking classes for patients and the community, this is not your typical hospital.

The ultimate goal, van Grinsven says, is for the hospital to catalyze the development of a new model for the delivery of health care, one that lowers costs through wellness prevention. This is a hospital designed to keep the clients well.

Gerard describes his fascinating journey into health delivery, the surprises and challenges along the way, and how the payoff—better health outcomes at lower cost—can be a model approach to customer-centered innovation for any organization.

With more than 24 years of global experience in the luxury hospitality industry, Gerard van Grinsven was asked to bring his innovative approaches and expertise in service excellence to the world of healthcare. In 2006, he was named president and chief executive of 300-bed, $360 million Henry Ford West Bloomfield. Prior to joining Henry Ford, he served as vice president and area general manager for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Dearborn and as vice president and area general manager of The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Cleveland, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.

Gerard's vision is for Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, which opened in March 2009, to be embraced as both a community center for well-being and a hospital. In addition to state-of-the-art equipment and the best clinical practices, the hospital features a wellness center, a healthy restaurant and other unique features including a pond and landscaped courtyards that contribute to a healing environment. The hospital will break ground in 2011 on a greenhouse and education center that will teach the community sustainable and organic farming techniques and promote healthy eating habits. It will provide therapy to patients, partner with area schools and be incorporated into Henry’s and inpatient room service.

Van Grinsven’s approach focuses on a passion for service, a total commitment to creating an environment of excellence, and building successful relationships—with the community, patients, and employees.

During his career he has opened 20 Ritz-Carlton properties worldwide. He was a key member of the team responsible for the company winning the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1999. He also executed The Ritz-Carlton Re-Born project, which resulted in The Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn being the #1 hotel in the company for improved guest and employee satisfaction scores. Van Grinsven also has served on the HFHS Western Wayne/Downriver Board of Trustees.

Van Grinsven holds a bachelor of arts degree in Hotel Management from The Hotel Management School, Maastricht, The Netherlands. He is a former board member of the Detroit Regional Chamber and the Michigan Kidney Foundation. In 2003, he was named as one of the “100 Emerging Business Leaders” by the Detroit Regional Chamber.

"How To Turn Anything From Adequate To Amazing" (Fast Company Blog, May 5, 2011)

"What hospitals can learn from the Ritz" (Fortune, March 2, 2011)

"CEO Gerard van Grinsven Explains How Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital Reinvents the Community Hospital" (Becker's Hospital Review, November 24, 2009)