After almost a year of searching, the Southwest Health System Board of Directors has announced W. Kent Rogers of Oklahoma has been appointed CEO of Southwest Memorial Hospital.
Rogers has 16 years of experience as a CEO and assistant administrator in hospitals ranging from 25 to more than 300 beds, holds a master’s degree in business administration and a master’s in health-care administration.
Rogers is currently president of Mercy Hospital in Ada, Okla. He will assume his new position the week of March 19. He and his wife, Elisabeth, have a daughter who is a senior in high school and a son who is in sixth grade. His family will join him at the end of the school year.
Board chairman Judy Schuenemeyer says that the Roger’s experience working within small critical access hospitals and his strong health-care finance background pushed him to the top of the list.
She added that the intensive interview process involved physicians, department managers, and a senior leadership committee, which each interviewed candidates and provided feedback to the board of directors before it made the final decision.
“We did a nationwide search, and had definite criteria that we were looking for. As a critical access hospital, we don’t have more than 25 beds, we’re rural and have a population that’s low income for the most part which creates all kinds of challenges,” said Schuenemeyer.
“Many (hospitals) have a payer mix that is 40 to 50 percent or more commercial insurance, and our commercial insurance payers make up about 20 percent of our payer mix, the rest is Medicaid/Medicare, so we were looking for someone who had some experience with that kind of payer mix, who came from community with similar challenges.”
Rogers will take over for interim CEO Liz Sellers, who has been serving double-duty as the chief clinical officer and CEO.
The search for a CEO began in May 2014, after former CEO Kent Helwig unexpectedly resigned a month prior. Helwig was appointed to the position in 2011.