Community Health Systems chief operating officer David Miller to retire
Miller was the company's first chief operating officer, oversaw CHS's six operating divisions including 198 affiliated hospitals in 29 states.
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David L. Miller, President and Chief Operating Officer of Community Health Systems, will retire at the end of the year, the company announced Friday. Miller was the first COO ever for CHS and has held the position since January 2014.
The Tennessee-based health system is one of the largest publicly traded hospital companies in the United States and currently owns, leases or operates 198 affiliated hospitals in 29 states with roughly 30,000 licensed beds.
Miller has overseen CHS's six operating divisions since he took the COO role a little more than two years ago. The system touted him as a key driver in their acquisitions of Triad Hospitals in 2007 and Health Management Associates in 2014. He is a 19-year veteran of CHS, having joined the company in 1997 as a vice president of operations. He was later promoted to senior vice president of group operations, and then to division president before being named president and chief operating officer. He is also a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.
[Also: Community Health Systems acquires Physicians' Specialty Hospital in Arkansas]
"Through two decades of leadership, David Miller's service has been characterized by the pursuit of quality in all things – as a champion for clinical excellence, an astute and disciplined operator, and a trusted leader and mentor for hospital and corporate executives." said Wayne T. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of CHS. "He has contributed mightily to the growth of Community Health Systems over these 20 years with many of our most notable accomplishments directly attributable to his leadership. David has made a positive and indelible mark on our organization, for which I am personally and forever grateful."
Community Health Systems saw a somewhat disappointing end to fiscal 2015, with fourth quarter results sliding by 2.4 percent over the same period in 2014. The last three months of 2015 included legal settlements for several whistleblower cases and expenses related to the planned spin-off of Quorum Health Corp., CHS said. Quorum will operate 38 rural hospitals as a separate company.
[Also: Community Health Systems to acquire 80% stake in two Indiana University hospitals]
But the company got off to an aggressive start in 2016, with a subsidiary of Community Health Systems acquiring an 80 percent ownership interest in a joint venture entity with Indiana University Health that includes all of the assets of the 227-bed IU Health La Porte Hospital in La Porte, Indiana, and the 50-bed IU Health Starke Hospital in Knox, Indiana, as well as affiliated outpatient centers and physician practices.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
