Tina Freese-Decker became executive vice president and COO of Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, Mich., on April 24. She joined Spectrum Health in 2002 and most recently was president of Spectrum Health Hospital Group.
Other C-suite Job Changes
Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s Brookwood Baptist Health, Birmingham, Ala., made multiple leadership changes at its hospitals. Mike Rickman was named CEO at Shelby Baptist Medical Center. He succeeds Bob Phillips, who recently returned as CEO at Walker Baptist Medical Center. They both begin their new roles effective immediately. Rickman was regional chief development officer for the Tenet Eastern Region–Central Division. Phillips spent several years as CEO at Walker Baptist.
Texas Medical Center appointed William F. McKeon president and CEO and a member of its board of directors in April. He was executive vice president, chief strategy and operating officer. Shawn W. Cloonan was named COO. In addition to those responsibilities, he will continue to oversee legal affairs. Most recently, he was general counsel and executive vice president, planning and development.
Jim Kendrick became president and CEO of the Community Hospital Corp. on April 17. He was CEO of AllianceHealth Oklahoma, a 10-hospital network affiliated with Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn.
Ashley Dickinson was named CEO of LaPorte (Ind.) Hospital. She had been chief operating officer of Porter Healthcare System for the past three years. The hospital was sold to Community Health Systems last year and, as part of that agreement, is to begin construction on a new hospital in March 2018.
Joseph White was appointed CEO of Lowell General Hospital and Circle Health, Lowell, Mass. He joined Lowell General Hospital in 2003 and was executive vice president and chief operation officer for 10 years before becoming president of Lowell General Hospital in 2013.
David Wallace will become CEO of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, Palmer, Alaska, on June 5, He was CEO of AllianceHealth Woodward (Okla.).
Julie Ann Freischlag, M.D., was slated to become CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., on May 1. She succeeds John D. McConnell, M.D., who will move to a new position at the medical center after serving as CEO since 2008. Freischlag is vice chancellor for human health sciences and dean of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.
Robert Parker was picked to become market president of LifePoint’s Central Kentucky East market, which includes Clark Regional Medical Center and Bourbon Community Hospital, and CEO of CRMC on May 1. He replaces Ron Tyrer, who has been interim CEO since mid-March.
Tony Benton became CEO of Tennova Healthcare’s Physicians Regional Medical Center and Knoxville metro CEO on April 10. Over the past 15 years, Benton held leadership positions at Mountain States Health Alliance in Johnson City. Since 2014, he was vice president and chief operating officer over Washington County operations, which includes Johnson City Medical Center, Niswonger Children’s Hospital, Woodridge Psychiatric Hospital and Franklin Woods Community Hospital.
Alan Daugherty became CEO of the two-hospital system, SageWest Health Care, Riverton, Wyo., in April. He was CEO of Parkview Regional Hospital and Ennis Regional Medical Center, two LifePoint Health facilities in east Texas.
Medical City Children’s Hospital, within Medical City Dallas Hospital, named William Lee CEO. Since 2010, Lee was senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga. Medical City Denton (Texas) named Howard Shaw, M.D., chief medical official. He was medical director and CMO at Great Plains Health Innovations Network in North Platte, Neb. Both Medical City Children’s Hospital and Memorial University Medical Center are a part of Medical City Healthcare.
Kenneth Preston Jones was appointed president of Presence Health’s Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill. He was CEO of St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Cavalier County Memorial Hospital, Langdon, N.D., named Richard Fromme chief financial officer. He was CFO for Fayette County Hospital and long-term care in Vandalia, Ill.
Steven Province was slated to become interim president of Providence Healthcare Network, Waco, Texas, on May 2. He was senior vice president for operations and chief operating officer.
Stephen Leffler, M.D., was appointed chief population health and quality officer of the University of Vermont Health Network in Burlington. He was chief medical officerand chief quality officer for the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Cambridge (Mass.) Health Alliance, an academic community health system, named John O’Hara vice president of primary care operations. He was Hallmark Health’s system vice president and president of Hallmark Health Medical Associates, a multi-specialty physicians group serving communities north of Boston.
Madelyn Pearson, R.N., will become chief nursing officer and senior vice president of patient care services for Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, on June 12. She is regional senior vice president of patient care services and CNO for the Mount Sinai Health System Downtown Campus in New York.
Peconic Bay Medical Center, Riverhead, N.Y., named Susan Somerville, R.N., to the newly created position of vice president for clinical transformation. She will oversee the implementation of advanced clinical services. Somerville was president of Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan.
LifePoint Health, Brentwood, Tenn., promoted Jennifer Peters to general counsel. She was senior vice president and chief operations counsel. Peters joined LifePoint as vice president and chief operations counsel in 2013. She was named senior vice president and chief operations counsel in 2016.
Gustavo Martell, M.D., was appointed chief medical officer for the Hospitals of Providence Transmountain Campus, one of the nation’s newest teaching hospitals. He is employed by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, which collaborating with the University and the Hospitals of Providence. In addition to serving as a training facility for medical students and residents, the hospital, along with the Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso at Transmountain will provide health care to residents in El Paso and southern New Mexico.
Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, Milwaukee, named Julie Schuller, M.D., president and CEO. Founded in 1969, Sixteenth Street provides clinical care, behavioral health services, and social services for Milwaukee’s most vulnerable populations through its five clinic locations and array of comprehensive community initiatives. Schuller has been at Sixteenth Street for more than 20 years as a clinical provider and, most recently, as executive vice president and vice president of clinical affairs.
Retirement
C.R. Hudson will retire from Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, Valencia, Calif., in July after serving as senior vice president and CFO since 2001. Beginning in 2002, he guided the hospital’s financial restructuring stemming from debts for repairs related to the 1994 Northridge earthquake. As a result, the hospital’s bond rating was increased and enabled the completion of several major projects.
Business News
A nonbinding letter of intent calls for the integration of Methodist Hospitals of Gary and Merrillville, Ind., into the Franciscan Alliance signed a non-binding letter of intent providing for the integration of the Methodist Hospitals into the Franciscan Alliance system, Mishawaka, Ind. Throughout the approximately 120-day due diligence process, the two systems will continue to meet with physicians, employees and community representatives to discuss the impact of their proposed relationship, which is subject to the usual regulatory approvals.
Ascension and Marshfield Clinic Health System signed a definitive agreement for Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, Wis., to become a part of MCHS. The Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother began its ministry in greater Marshfield more than 125 years ago. MCHS also has deep roots in the region and has been committed to providing exceptional care for more than 100 years.
Lee Health’s Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in Fort Meyers will open to patients in May. The building encompasses nearly 300,000 square feet and consolidates into one location the medical and ancillary specialty services required to treat critically ill or injured children in a five-county region. A total of 128 patient beds will be available at the new hospital, with future expansion capabilities up to 160 beds. A dedicated pediatric emergency department with its own ambulance entrance will be staffed by pediatric emergency physicians around the clock.
