John C.J. Cronin Leaving Northern Berkshire Healthcare
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| Northern Berkshire Healthcare CEO John C.J. Cronin |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire Healthcare President and CEO John C.J. Cronin announced on Sept. 23 that he will leave his leadership role with the health care system at year's end.
Cronin's announcement came via a prepared statement. He was not available for comment about the announcement.
"Let me say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my nine years with NBH," Cronin said in the written statement. "With support from the Board of Trustees, the various management teams and the many great employees of the hospital, VNA and Hospice, Sweet Brook, Sweetwood and REACH, we have transformed the local health care system. It is now one that integrates all of the elements of care in our community, from hospital care to home health care, skilled nursing and community health. We have invested in employee education to be sure they have the skills they need; we have invested in technology to offer our community the very best diagnostic tools and we have created new facilities to help ensure our future."
Cronin did not reveal specific future plans in the statement and said only that the focus of his professional life will change.
Cronin 'Steered the Ship'
Mayor John Barrett III said during a telephone interview that Cronin will be missed.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed that he's leaving," Barrett said. "He steered the ship through a difficult period. The hospital wouldn't have survived without some of the moves he made. He always made the hospital part of the community and he always did what he felt was the best for the hospital and the community. He led some major expansions. He's leaving the hospital well positioned."
NBH Board of Trustees President Stephen Crowe has appointed a six-member search team to seek a new CEO. An unidentified executive search firm has also been hired to assist with the search process. In a prepared statement, Crowe said that the position is expected to be filled by winter. Cronin will work with all those involved in the search and assist with a "smooth transition," according to the statement.
The news comes almost one month after Cronin announced during a media conference that the North Adams Regional Hospital expects to post an over $2 million loss for fiscal year 2005. At the conference, Cronin also announced that the NARH is undergoing a financial and operational overhaul at the hands of Cambio Health Solutions LLC.
Administrative Exits
Cronin's expected departure follows the August resignation of former NARH President Dr. Bruce Nash. Earlier this year, Suzanne Stinson left a post as the hospital's chief financial officer, and Winthrop Brown departed from a vice president of development and marketing job. During the August press conference, Cronin said that the administrative shake-up would carve over $1 million from hospital management costs during fiscal year 2006.
Two members of the Cambio firm are in place in temporary, contracted leadership roles at the hospital. John Schibler is serving as the hospital's interim chief financial officer and chief implementation officer, while Joseph Nolan is serving as the NARH interim chief operating officer.
During the press conference, Cronin said that Schibler and Nolan are expected to hold the posts for about nine months. The hospital is one of several health care service providers operating under the NBH corporate umbrella. The NBH oversees the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of the Northern Berkshires, the Sweetwood elderly living complex and the Sweet Brook long-term care center. The REACH Community Foundation is also part of the NBH.
Streamlined Health Care
Cronin joined the Northern Berkshire Healthcare in 1996, and facilitated a merger of the VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire in 1997. The REACH Community Foundation was created under Cronin's leadership in 1998 and in 1999, Cronin negotiated the purchase of the Williamstown-based Sweet Brook Care Centers and the Sweetwood Continuing Care Retirement Community. He was at the NBH helm during construction of a NARH parking garage, a privately-developed Ambulatory Care Center that places numerous health care service providers in direct proximity to the hospital, and was instrumental in a NARH multi-unit, multimillion dollar renovation project that, when completed, will bring numerous improvements to the critical care, maternity, medical-surgical, and emergency care departments.
A CARE Campaign launched under Cronin's leadership has generated about $10 million toward the project. About $13 million in construction costs is being financed through bonds issued by the hospital during the fall of 2004. Crowe credited Cronin with initiating "fundamental changes to meet the health care needs of the more than 40,000 residents served by the NBH."
"John Cronin brought fresh ideas to a community health system that needed to see things is a new light," Crowe said in a prepared statement. "His guidance has taken us places that we never imagined. He has achieved what might have been unworkable in other communities; the integration of separate health care providers into a single streamlined organization."
Cronin's ability to strengthen relationships with area physicians and recruit new doctors to the region has benefited the community, Crowe said.
Cronin said he believes in the NBH.
"Northern Berkshire Healthcare has what it takes to succeed; people, employees and community volunteers, who care about their community," he said in the written statement. "Yes, there are difficult challenges to overcome but they are not insurmountable. Our community is depending on us to do this."
Tags: NARH, NBH,
