John Johnston, CPA, MHA, leads the Optum Advisory Services – Provider Cost and Operations practice. This team of consultants focuses on large-scale margin improvement and cost reduction, with deep subject-matter expertise in hospital turnaround, care redesign, resource utilization, length-of-stay (LOS) reduction, nursing, emergency department services, perioperative services, care management, supply chain, purchased services, and labor productivity.

As Senior Vice President and National Partner of Advisory Board Consulting, Mr. Johnston
joined Advisory Board in 2012 to build the Hospital Performance Management practice. The
practice has conducted over 100 engagements across a broad spectrum of clients, ranging from multi-state health systems to regional systems and community hospitals. These engagements have included developing strategies to achieve sustainable financial performance under Medicare rates, large-scale margin improvement initiatives, rapid turnarounds to meet bond requirements, cost-per-case improvement, hospital care redesign and LOS reduction, and service line growth and profitability strategies.

Mr. Johnston brings over 25 years of health care executive experience to his role. Prior to joining Advisory Board, Mr. Johnston led the external consulting practice for Quorum Health Resources, the nation’s largest hospital management firm. In addition, Mr. Johnston held several leadership positions in the areas of consulting, group purchasing, and healthcare informatics at Premier Inc. Mr. Johnston began his health care career in finance for a 500-bed tertiary medical center and served as Controller of a 150-bed community hospital. His educational background includes a Master of Healthcare Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee.