The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania announced this morning that Andrew W. Carter will be its new president and CEO effective Dec. 12.

Carter succeeds Carolyn F. Scanlan, who will retire from HAP on Dec. 31 after nearly 18 years with the organization.

According to a news release, Carter has been president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Visiting Nurse Associations of America since 2007. He was president of the Ohio Children's Hospital Association from 2001 to 2007, and before that was principal of Carter Consulting Inc.

Carter holds a master's degree from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor's degree in American government from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Audry, have a son, Sam, and a daughter, Claire.

Describing "unprecedented challenges for Pennsylvania's hospitals," Garry L. Scheib, HAP chairman and chief operating officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said Carter "brings a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience to bear on the most critical issues facing hospitals."

"I feel privileged to be joining HAP, an organization which has a stellar state and national reputation for its advocacy on behalf of hospitals and health systems and the patients and communities they serve," Carter said.