In 2022, Challenger, Gray & Christmas recorded 103 hospital and healthcare system CEO exits. In the first month of 2023, Becker covered 25.
If there was ever an easy time to lead a healthcare system, it certainly isn’t now. About 73% of CEOs believe economic growth will decline over the next year, a decade high for pessimism, according to PwC, which began handling the survey 12 years ago. Hospitals, in particular, just finished their worst financial year since the pandemic, with mid-2022 in the red. Broad economic pressures coupled with industry-specific ones, such as rising violence, staff shortages, burnout workers, and the lingering effects of COVID-19, tend to pile at the helm.
Yet every release brings a new appointment: a fresh set of eyes and ideas, an opportunity to refine the C-suite.
The following hospital and healthcare system chief executives left their roles via retirement, resignation or termination in January:
1. Frank Calamari will retire as president and chief executive officer of Calvary Hospital in New York City on March 10 after 36 years in the role.
2. Gary Honts has retired as CEO of JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, California.
3. David Henry left his role as CEO of Merit Health Central, located in Jackson, Miss., to serve Merit Health Madison, approximately 25 miles away, due to recent service closures at Central.
4. Hank Milius, president and CEO of Muncie, India-based Meridian Health Services, will retire in late 2023.
5. John Snow will step down as CEO of Oxford, NC-based Granville Health System after more than four years in the role.
6. David Elgarico resigned as CEO of Framingham, Massachusetts-based MetroWest Medical Center to return home to Oregon to be with his family. Lui assumed the role in July after serving three years as CEO of Quorum Health’s McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, located in Springfield, Oregon.
7. Julie Miller-Phipps will retire in July as president of the Southern California and Hawaii markets at Kaiser Permanente, based in Oakland, California. She has been president of the Southern California market since 2016 and president of the Hawaii region since 2020.
8. Doug Arvin, CFO of Grand Forks, ND-based Altru Health System, plans to step down, effective Feb. 3. An Altru spokesperson told the Grand Forks Herald that Mr. Arvin has accepted a position at Essentia Health in Fargo, ND
9. Scott Phillips and David Pierce resigned as interim CEO and interim CFO of El Centro (Calif.) Regional Medical Center. The two were chief executives of the hospital’s management company, Healthcare Management Partners, and resigned after the company issued a notice of termination of the hospital.
10. Daniel Cancelmi will retire as executive vice president and CFO of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare in late 2023. He led a decade-long career at Tenet, moving to its corporate headquarters in 1999 and holding various leadership positions. His retirement is one of nine executive changes taking place in the health care system this year.
11. Stan Holm is no longer president and CEO of Olathe (Kan.) Health now that the health care system has become part of the University of Kansas Health System. Olathe Health, a two-hospital system, said most of its senior leadership team has moved to the Kansas City-based University of Kansas Health System, and Mr. Holm and the Health System “have mutually agreed that we will not will continue under the new combined organization.”
12. Tony Keene is no longer the CEO of Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville, Missouri. Dwayne Blaylock has been named interim CEO.
13. Dustin Greene is exiting his role as CEO of HCA’s TriStar Skyline Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Lui has accepted a role as CEO of Henderson, Texas-based QuickVisit Urgent Care. Mark Miller will take over as chief executive officer of the hospital.
14. Mike Murrill is stepping down as president and chief executive officer of AdventHealth’s Redmond, Georgia, and its Southeast Region, which oversees hospitals in Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina. Moving forward, separate Chief Executive Officers will be appointed for AdventHealth Redmond and the Southeast Region.
15. Gary Horan will retire as president and chief executive officer of Elizabeth, NJ-based Trinitas Regional Medical Center, part of West Orange, NJ-based RWJBarnabas Health. He has served over 20 years with the hospital.
16. Kevin Manemann is stepping down as CEO of Renton, the Washington-based southern division of Providence. He has accepted a new assignment at the City of Hope in Duarte, California.
17. Kevin Slavin will retire as president and CEO of NJ-based Paterson, St. Joseph’s Health in late 2023. He spent nine years in the role.
18. Scott Boston, MD, has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Jacksonville (Ill.) Memorial Hospital. Trevor Huffman, director of outpatient services at the hospital, was named the new chief executive officer.
19. Scott Cihak, president and CEO of TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, has resigned for personal reasons after 31 years with HCA Healthcare.
20. Ashley McClellan resigned as CEO of HCA Midwest Health’s Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo. CFO John Krajicek has been named to the role on an interim basis.
21. Don Caruso, MD, president and CEO of Keene, NH-based Cheshire Medical Center, will retire in May. The hospital is part of Dartmouth Health of Lebanon, NH.
22. Steve Dietlin will retire as CEO of Oceanside, Tri-City Medical Center based in March. Starting January 3, a search committee met to find a replacement for him.
23. Carole Peet, MSN, RN, will step down as president and CEO of Yakima (Wash.) Valley Memorial Hospital this month. The hospital, formerly affiliated with Virginia Mason Health System in Seattle, recently reached an acquisition agreement with MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Washington. Tammy Buyok, vice president of facilities management and operational support services at MultiCare, will serve as interim president once the acquisition receives regulatory approval.
24. Joe Hugar is no longer president and CEO of Taylor Regional Hospital in Campbellsville, Ky. Shane Fitzgerald, COO of UofL Health-Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville, Ky., has been named to the interim position.
25. Alfred Pilong Jr. is no longer the CEO of Garnet Health based in Middletown, NY. The Health Care Board terminated his three-year contract after his freshman year and named Jerry Dunlavey — his current vice president of operations and COO of his Monticello, NY hospital — to the interim post.
