Rhode Island is losing doctors to Massachusetts. But it has successfully poached a leader from across the border to head the state’s health care trade organization.
The Hospital Association of Rhode Island named Michael Sroczynski as its new president effective Tuesday. Sroczynski has more than two decades of experience representing hospital and health care systems throughout the region, most recently as executive vice president for the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association.
“Mike has a deep understanding of the current healthcare landscape and the multitude of challenges our local hospitals, health systems, providers, and patients are facing,” Mary Marran, president and chief operating officer of Butler Hospital and chair of the Hospital Association board of trustees. “His leadership will be immensely important as we work to build a better, even more innovative healthcare system for all Rhode Islanders.”
Sroczynski’s appointment fills the post last permanently held by Teresa Paiva Weed, a former Rhode Island Senate president, who retired in July 2024. Howard Dulude has been serving as interim association president since Paiva Weed stepped down.
Information about the search and selection process was not immediately available.
As association president, Sroczynski will lead the 17-member hospital and health care organization charged with advocating for health care services with state and federal leaders. As Rhode Island’s health care industry grapples with financial and workforce shortages and sweeping federal budget cuts, Sroczynski’s appointment comes at a “critical time of change and opportunity,” the Hospital Association said in a statement. His focus will include working with local health care facilities and provers to build their workforces and provide accessible and cost-effective care.
“Rhode Island is home to a special healthcare community with deep roots in our neighborhoods and even deeper ambitions for the future of patient care,” Sroczynski said in a statement. “I am honored to help uplift the voices of our hospitals and health systems at a time when provider voices are needed the most.”
At the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, Sroczynski helped oversee Massachusetts’ first-in-the-nation universal health care coverage law, along with “landmark” state policies in payment structure, workforce development and care coordination and the state COVID-19 response. Prior to his job with the Massachusetts health care association, he served as legislative counsel in the Massachusetts State Senate.
Sroczynski serves on the boards of the Professional Liability Foundation and the Massachusetts chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, and is a member of the New England Council’s health care committee.
He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management and College of Law.
A copy of his resume was not immediately available.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
