Executives looking to depart from major American hospitals in the near future would do well to put in a call to the lawyer who negotiated David Strand’s severance agreement from the Cleveland Clinic.Despite abruptly leaving the Clinic amidst cloudy circumstances and vague explanations in July 2009, former Chief Operating Officer Strand was the Clinic’s fifth-highest [...]

Cleveland Clinic’s former Chief Operating Officer left the health system in July 2009 under vague pronouncements of a “mutual departure” and plans to “pursue other opportunities.” What has Strand, who was the Clinic’s second-highest-paid employee in 2009, been up to since then?

Dr. Michael Modic led the development of the Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the expansion of its eRediology services, according to a Clinic release. He’ll continue at chief of the Neurological Institute while serving as the system’s chief emerging business officer. This announcement fills the final role left vacant from the departure of David Strand and Dr. Bridget Duffy in late June.

Sarah Sinclair, who oversees nurses throughout the system, and Dr. James Merlino, vice chairman of the Clinic’s Digestive Disease Institute, will “collaboratively” lead the office, according to a Clinic press release. They fill a void left when Dr. Bridget Duffy, who ran the office, left the Clinic along with spouse David Strand, who was the chief operating officer.

The changes address the oversight of the medical operations and facilities management at the hospital. The Clinic still needs to assign responsibilities for its emerging business division and improving patient satisfaction and experience.

David Strand, chief operating officer for the Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. Bridget Duffy, its chief experience officer, have left for San Francisco to “pursue other opportunities,” according to a memo distributed to staff. The memo said areas around “medical operations, emerging business, and patient experience” were being realigned to make the health system more efficient and better support the Clinic’s clinical areas.