Client News: Robertson resigns as President/CEO of Mon General and Mon Health System

Source: Mon Genral Press Release

Mon Health System President and Chief Executive Officer David Robertson has announced his resignation effective January 31, 2011, hospital officials confirmed today. Robertson has accepted a position as Senior Vice President of Irving, Texas-based VHA, Inc and Executive Officer of the VHA Oklahoma/Arkansas region.

“I have always been immensely honored to be a part of the Mon Health System,” Robertson said. “I will always be proud of our significant accomplishments such as developing the Hazel Ruby McQuain Tower as part of a five-year, $92 million expansion and modernization project, improving and expanding our cardiac care program, developing Mon General Hospital into an all private patient room facility, focusing on meeting the needs and expectations of our patients, and ensuring our patient safety as first priority. The last eight years have been tremendous.”

Robertson joined the Mon Health System in January 2003 after serving 18 years as CEO of Duncan Regional Hospital in Duncan, Oklahoma, and five years as CEO of Shelby County Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan, Iowa.

Under Robertson’s leadership, Mon General Hospital achieved the HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for an unprecedented five consecutive years, the only West Virginia hospital to receive such a designation and one of less than 40 hospitals nationally to achieve this accomplishment. This distinction puts Mon General in the top five percent of all hospitals in the nation in terms of patient safety.

“We have expanded and remodeled 90% of our facilities at Mon General, and now all 189 of our rooms are private for added comfort and safety,” said Robertson. “We have updated surgical support areas, enhanced public spaces, developed a new Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit and improved access to Outpatient departments. These are significant improvements to the facility and they continue to have significant and positive impacts to our growing patient base.”

Since 2008, Robertson has guided Mon General to add dialysis services and most recently, Mon General received its three year accreditation from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Surveyors on site for this described the hospital as “Outstanding.”

Throughout his tenure, patient satisfaction scores skyrocketed. Press Ganey, the nation’s leading healthcare performance management company, currently show Mon General’s inpatient satisfaction to be at the 98th percentile nationally and outpatient satisfaction at the 92nd percentile. Further, Medicare surveys place global satisfaction at Mon General higher than any other hospital in the state of West Virginia.

“This decision has been an extremely difficult one to make, but the opportunity to be closer to both my wife’s and my family was a compelling factor,” Robertson said.

Robertson will assume his new duties with VHA on February 1, 2011. The VHA Oklahoma/Arkansas region, with offices in Little Rock and Oklahoma City, coordinates and directs VHA efforts to serve a 19 member system, including 43 hospitals and hundreds of non-acute care organizations in the two states. The organization deploys staff to implement strategies and improve clinical performance to improve health care operations overall. The region also supports several member-owned businesses including AROK, a regional supply network; LifeCare Health Services, which provides numerous health care-related services including employee benefit management services, a nurse advice line, managed care services, and clinical and operational risk management support services; and Heartland RRG, a professional liability insurance company.

VHA Inc., based in Irving, Texas, is a national network which serves 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and more than 24,000 non-acute care health care organizations nationwide. Its 16 regional offices, including VHA Oklahoma/Arkansas, serve member health care organizations in 46 states and the District of Columbia.