Sommers hired by U.S. Defense Department

• Paul Sommers

Paul Sommers

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Paul Sommers, 1619 Laurel Ave., has been named deputy project manager for health care for the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Homeland Security-Center for Domestic Preparedness.

Classified as a “key and essential employee,” Sommers, formerly of Hudson Hospital, will manage health care operations at the Noble Training Facility in Fort McClellan, Anniston, Ala.

Noble is the only hospital in the United States dedicated to training hospital and health care professionals in disaster preparedness and response.

Sommers achieved national prominence earlier this year by winning the Medical Group Management Association/Academic Practice Assembly Innovations Competition and being named the “2008 Celebrating Innovations Showcase Champion.” He was recognized for developing the “Moment-of-Truth Customer Satisfaction System” that identifies and corrects less-than-excellent health care and service at the point-of-care before the patient leaves their health care provider.

He has written three health care management and performance improvement books; registered nine copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office that focus on improvements in health care management; worked on consumer satisfaction and measurement innovations; and written more than 100 medical journal and peer-reviewed articles appearing throughout health care literature.

Sommers has a Ph.D. in educational psychology and management from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Ill., and continuing education in health policy from the Wharton School of Business/University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, and the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management at Minneapolis.

Sommers, his wife, Carol, and sons, Eric and Marc, along with their families, have resided in Hudson since 1985.

Tags: business, hudson, sommers, homeland_security, healthcare, manager