Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based SoutheastHEALTH system has named Kenneth W. Bateman as president and CEO, according to the Southeast Missourian.
Mr. Bateman has more than 20 years of healthcare management experience in various roles within both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals and health systems.
In his new role, Mr. Bateman will lead an initiative called APEX that focuses on financial improvement and operational refinement, according to the report. APEX is designed to identify efficiencies to help the health system recover from financial issues it has experienced over the last few years due to revenue and billing cycle issues and cuts in reimbursements.
According to the report, SoutheastHEALTH is almost halfway through the initiative. The system could gain up to $32 million in annual savings if the initiative is successful, and another $9.5 million could be paid to the system through backlogged billing.
Mr. Bateman succeeds Wayne Smith, who became CEO in 2012 and retired this past October.