New Skaggs CEO starts Jan. 25

There will be a new leader in Branson health care come Jan. 25, when William K. Mahoney starts work as the president and CEO of Skaggs Regional Medical Center.

Mahoney's hiring, announced at a Dec. 5 news conference, is the result of a five-month search after the abrupt spring resignation of three-year CEO Stephen Erixon.

Mahoney is finishing up his tenure as CEO of Labette Health, an acute-care facility in Parsons, Kan., where he's worked for five years. Prior to that, Mahoney spent six years as CEO of Wamego Hospital in Wamego, Kan.

Skaggs Chairman of the Board Dennis Newkirk said Mahoney's management experience set him apart from other prospects.

"Among other things, we wanted somebody who had demonstrated a successful track record as a CEO, as opposed to somebody who was just coming up and learning on the job," Newkirk said.

He said the board also felt it was important for Skaggs' new CEO to have a high sense of integrity and open communication.

"I think we got that in spades with William Mahoney," Newkirk said.

Although the board doesn't have a checklist of specific objectives for Mahoney, he will be expected to help Skaggs continue improving its financial condition. In fiscal 2007, Skaggs lost $4.5 million, largely due to bad debt from uninsured patient care, resulting in cuts of 11 full-time positions and reductions in senior manager salaries last December.

Shortly after Erixon's March exit, Skaggs laid off 36 full-time employees and eliminated another 17 positions through attrition, and the system's financial picture has improved. According to Springfield Business Journal research for the area's largest hospitals list (see page 16), Skaggs posted 2008 revenues of $164.5 million, up roughly 20 percent from the $137.2 million in 2007.

"What we were trying to do at the beginning of the year was get our cost structure in line with our level of services, and those staff reductions ... were a part of that," Newkirk added, noting that patient volumes have dropped slightly this year from 2008, when Skaggs had 26,777 inpatient days and 35,015 emergency room visits, according to list research.

The board brought in seven candidates for personal interviews. From there, the pool narrowed to three, before the board ultimately chose Mahoney, who has a bachelor's degree in health services management from the University of Illinois-Springfield, and a Master of Health Administration from University of Missouri.

"It's not something you do in a quick exercise," Newkirk said of the hiring process.[[In-content Ad]]