Shakeup stirs Down East hospitals
Developments in the shakeup at Down East Community Hospital in Machias have roped in Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in Brewer and left Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth without a COO.
Yesterday, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems was named emergency receiver of DECH, according to a press release from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS and DECH filed the petition jointly in Kennebec Superior Court. EMHS will be responsible for operating the Machias hospital and is tasked with correcting deficiencies that are responsible for the pending loss of its eligibility for Medicare reimbursements. Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems will receive a monthly fee of $21,867 for acting as emergency receiver, Karen Cashman, a spokesperson for EMHS, told Mainebiz.
Subsequently, EMHS tapped Doug Jones, chief operating officer of Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth since 1999, to take over as interim CEO at DECH. Jones resigned his position at the Ellsworth hospital, effective immediately, according to the Ellsworth American. Jones will serve as interim CEO for a minimum of 60 days, the newspaper reported. On Tuesday, it was reported that DECH's board had appointed Craig Jesiolowski, regional vice president with Quorum Health Resources, a health care management firm that works with DECH, as interim CEO, a position he held for two days.
DECH's former CEO, Wayne Dodwell, was put on administrative leave last Friday, just hours after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services informed the hospital that as of July 10 it would no longer be eligible for Medicare reimbursements because identified problems at the hospital had not been improved.
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