Dive Brief:

• Providence St. Joseph has a new CIO in Microsoft artificial intelligence and commerce executive B.J. Moore. Moore, who spent nearly 20 years at Microsoft, will start at the Renton, Washington-based health system in late January.
• Moore is the third Silicon Valley exec to head to the health system in recent years. He'll join Chief Digital Officer Aaron Martin, who left Amazon for Providence in 2014, and Chief Financial Officer Venkat Bhamidipati, who worked with Moore at Microsoft until heading to the health system last year. Moore will report to Bhamidipati.
• The healthcare industry's executive talent pipeline has been completely rerouted by Silicon Valley, with tech behemoths like Amazon and Google continuing to snag execs from health systems and payers alike. Providence St. Joseph, which has been ramping up its digital health efforts, has made a point of reversing that trend by scooping up tech talent like Moore. 

Dive Insight:

Hospitals and payers have largely been standing idle as they watch their C-suite executives pack their bags for California. Providence St. Joseph CDO Martin warned attendees at November's U.S. News & World Report Healthcare of Tomorrow conference to be wary of the trend, which has put the healthcare industry in a similar position as the publishing industry when Amazon sprung up in the mid-1990s.

Several notable healthcare leaders have been lured by the siren song of Silicon Valley in 2018, the first major hire being Atul Gawande, an industry influencer tapped to lead Amazon-Berkshire Hathaway-J.P. Morgan's health venture.

Former Geisinger CEO David Feinbeg was reportedly the joint venture's first choice for CEO, but Feinberg turned down the role, saying he was "100% committed" to Geisinger. Feinberg was scooped up by Google last month, where he'll begin leading the company's health strategy next year. At Google, Feinberg will reunite with his former Geisinger chief of emerging technology, Gregory Moore, as well as a number of other healthcare executives from Cleveland Clinic, University of Chicago Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Utah Health Care. 

Dana Gelb Safran, senior vice president of enterprise analytics at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, was the latest healthcare exec to be hired by Amazon, which continues to build out its health team. Microsoft has been leading the trend as well with Microsoft Healthcare, led by former Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system CEO Jim Weinstein. 

Providence St. Joseph's has bucked the trend. 

"Health care is the last bastion to fully enter the digital age," Rod Hochman, CEO of the health system, said in a statement. "With data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence poised to enable and improve the way care is delivered, health systems need leaders who are well versed in the technology fields."

Hochman concluded: "B.J. has the depth and experience to guide our organization through this period of transformation, which will include collaborating with technology companies, as well as adopting enterprise-wide solutions that will modernize health care operations."