The Daughters of Charity Health System in California has named Interim President and CEO Robert Issai to president and CEO.
The Daughters of Charity Health System said Tuesday it promoted Interim President and CEO Robert Issai to president and CEO, effective Nov. 10.
Issai had been acting head of the six-hospital Catholic system, based in Los Altos Hills, since late July.
At that time, he filled the vacancy left by the abrupt July 28 departure of former CEO Bain Farris. No reason was given for Farris’ departure and officials said “no details of the severance agreement for Mr. Farris will be made available.” Farris had been the Daughters of Charity’s president and CEO since March 2004.
The regional system, which has offices in Los Altos Hills and Pasadena, includes Seton Medical Center in Daly City; Moss Beach’s Seton Coastside; O’Connor Hospital in San Jose; Gilroy’s St. Louise Regional Hospital; Los Angeles’ St. Vincent Medical Center; and St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, near Los Angeles.
In the system’s Nov. 14 statement, Issai said its goal for the next few years will be “to stay the course and continue to build upon our mission of service to the sick and the poor through operational and financial excellence.”
The announcement of Issai’s promotion was made by Sister Margaret Keaveney, chair of the DCHS board. “Mr. Issai’s commitment to our mission and demonstrated exceptional leadership uniquely qualify him for this position,” she said in the statement. The system is sponsored by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic religious order.
In an April interview with the San Francisco Business Times, Farris said the system was facing trying times financially, including financial woes at St. Vincent Medical Center and O’Connor Hospital, a longtime moneymaker. At the time, Farris said results had deteriorated to a lesser degree at Seton Medical Center, blaming the closure of a nearby San Jose hospital and an influx of Medi-Cal and uninsured patients for many of the financial challenges at Seton and O’Connor.
The system closed its Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne in late 2004, following a financial meltdown there. Serious issues also remain at St. Vincent, which shut a troubled liver transplant program last fall and fired the program’s two medical directors, officials said early this year. In addition, the Los Angeles hospital’s CEO and CFO resigned in December 2005 and January 2006, respectively. A new St. Vincent CEO, Cathy Fickes, was appointed in late May.
“O’Connor has definitely turned around and is right on budget, and Seton is continuing to track positively, and had a great month in October,” Elizabeth Nikels, a spokeswoman for the Daughters system, told the Business Times. “DCHS has engaged an outside consulting firm to assist us with the St. Vincent turnaround and positive strides have been made since June.”
Issai has been a senior health-care executive for more than 23 years, including 15 in finance roles. He served as the system’s executive vice president and CFO for five years prior to taking on interim CEO duties last summer. He’s also held leadership roles at St. Francis Medical Center and Catholic Healthcare West, and was the founding CFO of the Daughters of Charity Ministry Services Corp.
In the early years of this decade, he helped create the Daughters system when it separated from San Francisco-based CHW in January 2002, and reverted to independent status, seven years after merging with the San Francisco system in 1995. After the separation, he joined DCHS as executive vice president and CFO.
