NHCH appoints interim CEO

Waimea’s North Hawaii Community Hospital on Thursday appointed an interim CEO and hired a consulting firm in an effort to improve the facility’s financial performance and attract a permanent chief executive officer.

Lowell W. Johnson is charged with turning around the hospital’s financial performance in the short term and laying the groundwork for a national search to attract a permanent CEO, according to the hospital’s board of directors. Huron Consulting Group will assist Johnson by looking at revenue cycles, supply chain management, labor practices and physician group practice management.

According to Bob Momsen, chairman of theNHCH board of directors, the hospital over the last 17 years hasn’t been able to break even. He said the Waimea facility faces many of the same challenges other small hospitals are up against, including attracting specialty care physicians and dealing with reductions in insurance reimbursements.

Johnson, according to NHCH, has for more than 35 years led turnaround initiatives at a variety of hospitals across the nation. He has also worked with Huron previously. Momsen said Johnson’s expertise will help prepare the hospital for coming changes to Medicare reimbursements.

Most recently Johnson served as interim president and CEO at California’s $340 million Salinas Valley Memorial Health System where, together with Huron Consulting Group, he led the organization through the development and implementation of performance improvements totaling more than $60 million, according to NHCH. He holds a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in business administration from the Wharton Graduate School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania.