Adventist Health CEO Will Leave to Establish a Foundation for Global Health

Scott Reiner, the visionary Adventist Health CEO who has led the non-profit, faith-based company in the United States to reimagine the future of health care, is leaving at year-end to establish a family foundation focused on global health and well-being. Ricardo Graham, then Pacific Union Conference board chair, announced the departure on July 30, 2021.

“Scott has served Jesus’ healing ministry exceptionally well for more than 30 years,” Graham said. “The board and I are deeply grateful for all that he has accomplished and are excited for his new calling.” The board will identify candidates to carry on the organization’s sacred work during this next chapter at Adventist Health.

Reiner, who has served as CEO since 2014, said he is confident in the company’s future, given its dynamic and experienced leadership team and the company’s bold 2030 strategy that extends its reach beyond sick care into well-being, he wrote in a letter to all employees and volunteers on July 30. “Personally, our work has always been about living our mission and expanding love and care to those in need, and I am looking forward to carrying these values with me into the next chapter of my journey.”

After beginning his health-care career as a registered nurse at Adventist Health’s Glendale hospital, Reiner served in a variety of leadership roles, including president and CEO of the 515-bed Glendale medical center and executive vice president/chief operations officer of Adventist Health.

Accomplishments during Reiner’s tenure as CEO include strategically repositioning the hospital-centric company to a care, health, and well-being organization, including the acquisition of Blue Zones, to fully align with its mission commitment. He also created a new operating framework across 24 hospitals in 10 distinct service areas while creating significant clinical, cost, and performance improvements, achieving outcomes in the top 10 percent or 25 percent nationally.

Reiner also welcomed six new communities with hospitals and clinics to the system, created new, innovative offices of Mission, Culture, and Consumer as well as a Well-Being Division, and served as chair of the California Hospital Association.

“I am thankful for the experiences and relationships that have enriched my life during my time at Adventist Health, and I will always be humbled by the trust you have placed in me,” Reiner wrote in his letter to employees. “I will continue to work during the remainder of 2021 to keep Adventist Health on a trajectory to achieve our vision and fulfill our mission, and I am filled with gratitude for the opportunities you have given me to make a difference and serve you.”

About Adventist Health 

Adventist Health is a faith-based, non-profit integrated health system serving more than 80 communities on the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii as well as others across the country through its Blue Zones company, a pioneer in taking a systemic and environmental approach to improving the health of entire cities and communities. Through this work, Adventist Health is leading a 21st-century well-being transformation movement. 

Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in hospitals and clinics. Its innovative Adventist Health Hospital@Home program provides virtual in-patient care in homes, home care agencies, hospice agencies, and joint-venture retirement centers in rural and urban communities. 

Adventist Health’s compassionate and talented team of 37,000 includes associates, medical staff physicians, allied health professionals, and volunteers driven in pursuit of one mission: living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness, and hope. Together, the people of Adventist Health are transforming the American health-care experience with an innovative yet timeless, whole-person focus on physical, mental, spiritual, and social healing to support community well-being. 

The original version of this story was posted on the Adventist Health website.