Head of Providence St. Mary Clinical Center in Walla Walla being replaced

Providence Wellness officials reported in an electronic mail to location overall health vendors Friday that Providence St. Mary Professional medical Center’s chief executive, Susan Blackburn, is leaving the healthcare facility.

No rationalization was give for Blackburn’s departure.

The announcement came 3 times just after the U.S. lawyer for the Japanese District of Washington, Vanessa Waldref, broke the news that the Walla Walla medical center has agreed to pay $22.7 million to resolve allegations it fraudulently billed state and federal health and fitness treatment systems for medically needless neurosurgery techniques between 2013 and 2018.

The actions of two neurosurgeons utilized by St. Mary throughout that time have been at the coronary heart of this situation, the greatest ever in this region, according to Waldref.

The circumstance began in January 2020, when the former health-related director of neurosurgery at Providence St. Mary Professional medical Middle submitted a criticism in federal court.

Very similar fears arose at Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle — owned by Providence — in 2017, when a Seattle Times investigation uncovered a range of interior fears about affected individual basic safety.

Right after The Situations investigation was printed, Swedish’s CEO and the neuroscience institute’s top rated surgeon, who faced nearly 50 inside issues inside of 16 months of his arrival, resigned.

Underneath Blackburn’s management, St. Mary has been lauded for educational and group programs, which includes a person supplying Walla Walla Group University nursing students the possibility to go on arms-on finding out throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to steering the medical center as a result of the health and fitness treatment crisis of the pandemic, Blackburn has served on area boards this kind of as Providence St. Mary Basis and Walla Walla YMCA.

A Washington Condition College graduate, she’s been with the clinic for 22 yrs, according to her professional profile.

In 2011, Blackburn was promoted to chief operating officer just after various a long time as vice president of human resources and assist products and services.

She is remaining changed by Reza Kaleel, who has been the chief govt officer at Kadlec Regional Health care Middle, in accordance to Joel Gilbertson, main government of the Washington and Montana location of Providence overseeing 13 Providence facilities like Richland and Walla Walla, and Scott O’Brien, main running officer for the exact location, in their memo.

Kaleel has a “track record of results and deep expertise of equally Catholic overall health care and the lifestyle of Kadlec,” they said in the announcement.

Also in their information, Gilbertson and O’Brien explained that, in the weeks to appear, the greatest organizational structure for the Walla Walla and Tri-Towns hospitals will be decided.

“For all but a handful of management workforce users with new reporting associations, our day-to-day operations and shipping of excellent treatment by our caregivers will keep on unchanged. We will share details as a new organizational composition comes into concentrate,” Gilbertson and O’Brien reported.

Officers at St. Mary did not right away return a ask for for comment.

Info from The Related Press and The Seattle Instances was involved in this report.