Shepherd Center Announces New Roles for Three Senior Leaders

Shepherd Center CEO and president Sarah Morrison, PT, MBA, MHA, announced new, key roles today for three of its senior management team members. The changes will be effective on April 1.

After a successful tenure as chief operating officer, Chet Bhasin, FACHE, MBA, MS, is being promoted to the newly created role of chief strategy officer, Morrison said.

“In this role, he will focus on maintaining, creating and implementing Shepherd Center’s short-term and long-range goals that convert the organizational strategy to day-to-day operations,” she explained.

Also, Bhasin will work with the Marketing and Public Relations Department to continue to increase patient referrals, improve patient outcomes and increase hospital revenue. His other duties will include oversight of the hospital’s programs for injury prevention, government relations and advocacy, professional education and payor relations. Bhasin received his bachelor’s degree in business administration, business economics and public policy from Indiana University in 2002. He then received his master’s degree in communications from Northwestern University in 2008, followed by a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame in 2009.

“I am excited about the opportunity to contribute in this newly created role,” Bhasin said. “The confidence the organization has extended to me in my two-year tenure as COO has been wonderful. My goal is to leverage Shepherd Center’s experience and reputation to advance the hospital’s position in the market with its various stakeholders. I do believe the organization has the appropriate resources and best people to compete in our space.”

Bhasin will work closely with Mitch Fillhaber, MS, senior vice president of corporate development and managed care. Fillhaber, who joined Shepherd Center’s staff 25 years ago, will bring his breadth of experience to now focus exclusively on one of the hospital’s key initiatives – creating and sustaining core partnerships, Morrison said. In addition, Fillhaber will continue to contribute to efforts to increase patient referrals, improve payor reimbursement and enhance the hospital’s continuum of care for patients, she added. Fillhaber received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from American University and his master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from Southern Illinois University. 

“I am indebted to the Shepherd family for allowing me to become part of their dream almost 25 years ago,” Fillhaber said. “I am grateful that the organization is now allowing me to direct one of our most important strategic objectives for the future. I am also thankful to the hundreds of Shepherd employees and physicians who make Shepherd Center the best place for rehabilitation in the United States.”

Also, starting April 1, Jamie Shepherd, MBA, MHA, will assume the role of chief operating officer, Morrison said. Shepherd, who is the son of hospital co-founder James Shepherd, will have the responsibility and authority for the administrative direction, evaluation and coordination of clinical operations.

“He will provide the leadership, management and strategic vision necessary to ensure Shepherd Center has the proper processes and resources in place to effectively optimize the clinical operations of the organization, ensuring financial strength and operating efficiency,” Morrison said.

Jamie Shepherd, who joined the Shepherd Center staff in 2015, will also continue his leadership and oversight of the hospital’s community services and risk management functions. Shepherd received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia. He earned master’s degrees in business administration and health administration from Georgia State University.

“I am honored and humbled to be part of the third generation of our family working at Shepherd Center,” Jamie Shepherd said. “My vision is to build on the strong foundation my father and grandparents have put in place while maintaining our unique culture.”

Shepherd Center was founded in 1975 by James Shepherd; his parents, Alana and Harold Shepherd; and David Apple, M.D., who is now medical director emeritus. They founded the hospital after James sustained a paralyzing spinal cord injury in a bodysurfing accident in 1975. He had to travel to Colorado to undergo rehabilitation because no specialized care was available in the Southeast. After James and his family returned to Atlanta, they recruited Dr. Apple and garnered the support of friends and associates to establish a six-bed spinal cord injury unit in an Atlanta hospital. Eventually, they moved the organization to its current campus on Peachtree Road in the Buckhead community of Atlanta. Today, the hospital has 152 beds and treats spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neuromuscular conditions. Shepherd Center has been ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s top 10 rehabilitation hospitals in the nation since 2008.

Learn more at shepherd.org.