On October 3, Lawrence General president and CEO Dianne J. Anderson, RN, MS, will receive the Ralph B. Wilkinson Good Citizenship Award from the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce at the organization’s annual dinner event. Presented annually to community leaders over the past six decades, this award represents the Chamber’s highest distinction.
Anderson was selected to receive the Good Citizenship Award for her longstanding commitment to providing high quality, high value health care services to all residents of the Merrimack Valley and her steadfast leadership at Lawrence General Hospital in a time of constant change and challenge in the health care industry. Her contributions to Lawrence General, and consequently to the region, have helped trigger growth and garnered heightened attention for this part of Massachusetts.
“Each year, the selection of a Wilkinson award recipient becomes increasingly difficult due to the many fine individuals within the Merrimack Valley region, but Dianne’s nomination stood out for so many reasons, including her being a model and inspiration for other women in today’s business world,” says Joseph Bevilacqua, president and CEO of the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce.
During her tenure at Lawrence General, Anderson has helped to spur health care transformation at both the state and national levels. Her active participation in both American Organization of Nurse Executives and American Hospital Association initiatives has brought her experience of both academic medicine and community medicine to the table to help shape national policy and legislation.
Additionally, Anderson’s work with the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association and the Health Policy Commission has helped to emphasize the important role of the regional hospital systems in our commonwealth’s health care delivery system. Her conviction that lower cost providers, like Lawrence General, are a key driver to stabilizing the cost of health care has gained traction with health care experts and policy makers.
Earlier this year, Anderson also helped lead the creation of a Medicaid Accountable Care Organization in partnership with Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and Neighborhood Health Plan. This newly developed care model, based upon the successes already realized in the region, is designed to transform care, improving health among the most vulnerable patients in our region at lower cost.
“The selection of Dianne by the Chamber for the Wilkinson award is well deserved and recognizes not only her personal contributions and leadership in community service, but also the commitment and professionalism of Lawrence General Hospital,” says Debra Rahmin Silberstein, Esq., chair of the Lawrence General Hospital Board of Trustees.
Appointed president and chief executive officer of Lawrence General Hospital in 2009, Anderson has led the organization through many significant changes and improvements. Her unshakable vision has produced creative, local provider partnerships at Lawrence General, as well as relationships with several Boston-based programs. The result is a broader array of locally available health care, for a traditionally underserved region.
Under Anderson’s leadership, Lawrence General crowned a five-year master facility plan with the opening of the Santagati Center for surgery in 2017, a full surgical services replacement project bringing vast new capabilities to the region. The project supported her vision that more care should be delivered closer to home.
The hospital has also expanded its outpatient footprint, opening offsite locations totaling almost 100,000 square feet of new primary care, outpatient diagnostics and treatment at the Andover Medical Center, the Andover/North Andover YMCA, and Methuen Medical Center, among a growing list of new sites.