As the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the health care industry significantly, the Greene County Medical Center board of trustees on Thursday announced interim appointments to the medical center’s leadership team to “ensure critical positions are occupied by talented and qualified people” to lead the organization through challenging times, a press release stated.
Tracy Warner has been appointed interim chief executive officer (CEO). As the director of rural health resources for UnityPoint Health-Des Moines, the medical center’s affiliation partner, Warner has worked with the medical center over the past 14 years and is very familiar with it. Warner’s knowledge of rural health care and governance issues will be a stable presence in these challenging times while recruitment for a permanent CEO continues.
The board of trustees search committee, composed of trustees Bill Raney, Kim Bates and Doug Hawn, is currently conducting video interviews with semi-finalist candidates. The timeline for completion of the search process continues to be early May.
Clinical leadership at the executive level remains a high priority for the board of trustees, particularly during the COVID-19 outbreak. Deborah (Debbie) Saylor, MSN, RN, CENP has been named interim chief nursing officer (CNO) and will serve with chief medical officer Dr Michael Line to provide direction for clinical areas and support medical decision-making. Saylor has experience as an executive leader in critical care nursing and as an adjunct instructor and in-service education. Her background also includes leading through a Florida hurricane response, making her well-suited to support Greene County Medical Center’s nursing leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other organizational changes include the return of Heather Paris, chief financial officer (CFO) to Iowa State University as an assistant vice president of finance, a position she held before joining Greene County Medical Center last June. Paris will lead the university’s efforts in the ongoing implementation of a new financial system.
Her last day at Greene County Medical Center will be April 17.
Joe Corfits will be interim CFO upon Paris’ departure. Corfits retired in March 2018 as senior vice president at UnityPoint Health-Des Moines, a position he held for 22 years. Over the course of a 40-plus year career, Corfits boasts many accomplishments in the area of health care finance, including service on the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s national board of directors from 2005 through 2008.
During his interim tenure at Greene County Medical Center, Corfits will provide oversight for several key projects impacting the medical center’s financial operations, with the support of the medical center’s finance team and Lutz Financial Services. Lutz has been assisting the medical center for several months.
Christa Simons continues as chief operating officer (COO) with additional oversight responsibilities for the revenue cycle. Simon’s tenure at Greene County Medical Center and institutional knowledge “continues to serve the organization exceptionally well as a senior leader,” the press release stated.
Human resources, information technology and community relations/foundation will temporarily report to the interim CEO, while long term care will be aligned under the interim CNO and the finance department continues to report through the CFO.
