New CEO takes helm at North Valley Hospital
The North Valley Hospital Board of Directors have chosen Jason Spring as the hospital’s new chief executive officer. The board selected Spring through a rigorous national search conducted by Quorum Health Resources (QHR), the hospital’s management company. He begins work March 9.
Former hospital CEO Craig Aasved resigned last July to become chief operating officer at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. John Yanes, of Lock Haven, Pa., is currently the hospital’s interim administrator.
Spring comes to Whitefish from Hot Springs, Ark., where he was the CEO for five years at HealthPark Hospital, a 20-bed, physician-owned hospital. Previous to that, he spent three years as CEO for an 83-bed rehabilitation hospital system.
He also served as regional director of development and managed care for the Arkansas health market; vice president of network development for a 153-bed medical center; director of development/clinic operations for three start-up clinics; and clinic manager for a hospital-based orthopedic clinic.
He earned his bachelor’s in business administration at Centenary College of Louisiana and a master’s in health service administration at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is a member of Fellow American College of Healthcare Executives.
North Valley Hospital has made significant changes since it adopted the Planetree patient-centered philosophy six years ago and moved to its 45-acre campus near Highway 40 in March 2007.
Last year, the hospital completed construction of its 9,000-square-foot North Country Medical Clinic in Eureka and its Medical Office Village south of the hospital. Total payroll is $9.4 million, of which nearly 36 percent is for labor.
Business has continued to grow. From 2004 to 2008, the number of admissions has increased 23 percent to 1,855, the number of outpatient visits has increased 4 percent to 44,026, and the number of emergency room visits has increased 19 percent to 9,156.
The amount of unpaid services has grown with the hospital over the past three years. In 2008, North Valley Hospital received nearly $40 million from patients, but nearly $14 million went unpaid. That includes charity care, bad debt and contractual discounts with insurance companies and Medicare or Medicaid.