Officials at Baton Rouge General are remaining tight-lipped about circumstances that led to the sudden departure of now-former president and CEO Mark Slyter.
The hospital announced Slyter’s departure late this morning in a prepared statement, shortly after board chairman Joe Juban notified employees of the change in an email.
“We appreciate Mark’s service and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Juban wrote in the email. “As we move forward with our plans to transform healthcare in Baton Rouge, let me assure you that this change will not impact our positive momentum.”
The announcement came as a surprise to rank-and-file employees. Slyter was on vacation last week, but had returned to work and scheduled meetings and events for later this month.
Slyter’s tenure at the hospital was marked by a series of financial challenges and changes. In early 2015, just 18 months after taking over at the two-campus system, Baton Rouge General closed its Mid City emergency room, citing losses of nearly $2 million a month. Since then, it has been struggling to find new uses for the 800,000-square-foot building, about half of which is vacant now that the bulk of inpatient volume has shifted to the Bluebonnet campus.
Late last year, Slyter unveiled plans to redevelop the Mid City facility into a post-acute care hospital as well plans to attract private investors to develop more than 60 acres of undeveloped property at the Bluebonnet Boulevard site.
“We’re going to look beyond health care to see if there are things we can explore with our elected officials,” he said at the time. “We’re excited about going beyond and asking a different question. What can we do in health care? What can we do in healing services? Broader education? Broader retail? The sky is the limit.”
Earlier this year, General Health System, which owns Baton Rouge General, announced it was entering into a strategic partnership with New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System that would combine the two institutions and create a network with more than 30 local clinics, five acute care and specialty hospitals, and 5,000 employees.
Officials with both institutions say those talks are still underway and that plans have not changed due to Slyter’s departure.
“We have no plans to change course strategically,” Juban says. “The board remains committed to our vision to transform health care, and that includes our partnership discussions with Ochsner, clinical integration, health innovation and campus master planning.”
Ochsner Health System CEO Warner Thomas says, “We have been in touch with Baton Rouge General Board leadership and they have affirmed their commitment to continue discussions toward a partnership that will enable us to deliver the most comprehensive, integrated health care for patients in the Baton Rouge region.”
It is unclear, however, whether the time frame for the closing of the partnership deal will be affected. At the time it was announced in March, officials with both institutions said they hoped to have the deal finalized by the third quarter of this year.
Slyter was hired in September 2013 after a six-month nationwide search. He succeeded Bill Holman, who also departed unexpectedly from the hospital’s top post in March 2013, after more than 12 years in the position.
Again, the hospital is conducting a national search for a new CEO. In the interim, Chief Operating Officer Edgardo Tenreiro will serve as acting CEO.
—Stephanie Riegel
