New Valley Hospital CEO named
A Utah health care consultant has been named chief executive officer of Valley Hospital and Medical Center, the second top management position filled this month by Empire Health Services officials.
Robert L. Quist, 62, took over last week at the Spokane Valley hospital, filling a position vacant for nearly two years. His selection comes as Empire officials seek financial investors or possible buyers for the century-old community hospital system.
“As the institution goes through a search for capital partners, we need someone there,” Mike Taylor, an Empire board member, said Thursday. “It’s a decent-sized hospital; it needs its own leader.”
Earlier this month, Empire officials hired Philip G. Dionne as the nonprofit system’s chief administrative officer, freeing Chief Executive Officer Jeff A. Nelson to focus on capital negotiations. Nelson is credited with a nearly $40 million turnaround of the once-troubled hospital system.
Quist has spent three decades working in the health care industry, including positions with Hospital Corporation of America, a leading for-profit company.
From 1997 to 2002, he was the chief executive officer of Park Plaza Hospital, a 468-bed hospital in Houston, Texas, according to Empire officials. Park Plaza Hospital is operated by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, one of the nation’s largest health care holding companies.
Most recently Quist was listed as vice president of business development with the Hyperbaric Medicine Group, a Salt Lake City company that specializes in equipment and procedures that treat wounds and other conditions with pressurized oxygen.
Sidney D. Winters, president of Hyperbaric, said Thursday that Quist actually worked as a business consultant for the company and that his profile would be removed from the firm’s Web site.
Empire officials said Quist also indicated he is founder and partner of QSG Inc., a health informatics firm.
Quist was not available Thursday to comment on his new post. He had previously arranged a trip to Hawaii with family members and Empire officials agreed to allow him to honor those plans, Taylor said.
Dionne, a former HCA employee, said he knew Quist previously. Dionne praised Quist’s management abilities.
“He will be attuned to the community needs,” Dionne said. “I was very impressed with his ability to provide leadership to the acute care institution.”
Valley Hospital and Medical Center is a 123-bed hospital and Level 3 trauma center. It is part of Empire Health Services, which has 511 licensed acute care beds and outpatient services throughout Eastern Washington.