Michael Stephens, CEO of Mercy Health-Cincinnati's West Hospital, will step down later this month to join Lewisville, Texas-based Adeptus Health, according to a Cincinnati Business Courier report.
Here are five things to know about Mr. Stephens and his departure.
1. Mr. Stephens has been hired as president of the hospital division of Adeptus Health. Adeptus claims to run the country's largest network of freestanding emergency departments and reportedly has purchased land near Columbus, Ohio, to open a for-profit hospital and freestanding emergency rooms, according to the report.
2. Mr. Stephens will leave Mercy Health Sept. 25.
3. He joined the nonprofit health system in 2011 and oversaw the closing of its Mount Airy and Western Hills hospitals. They were consolidated in 2013 into the new $270 million West Hospital, which has about 1,300 employees. He also oversees more than 70 doctors with Mercy Health Physicians, two freestanding emergency department locations and a skilled-care nursing facility on the west side of Cincinnati, according to the report.
4. As Mr. Stephens prepares to depart, Michael Kramer has been named interim CEO of West Hospital. Mr. Kramer was COO of West Hospital for 18 months before being tapped as Mercy Health-Cincinnati's vice president of strategy and business development. In June, Rita Bunch replaced him as COO of West Hospital.
5. John Starcher, CEO of Mercy Health-Cincinnati, told the Cincinnati Business Courier he expects to fill the CEO job at West Hospital before the end of 2015.
More articles on healthcare executive moves:
Janet Stacey named president of Fairview Foundation: 4 things to know
Dr. Lorrie Normand named president of Texas hospital: 4 things to know
Baystate Medical Center gets first female president: 5 things to know