Shuter leaves Adena CEO post

CHILLICOTHE - Adena Health System is looking for a new leader after President and CEO Mark Shuter decided to leave the position after more than 11 years.

The separation, which is effective immediately, came about over a failure of Shuter and the health system's Board of Trustees to reach an agreement on the CEO's next contract. His current contract was set to expire in June.

As the search for a new CEO begins, Dr. John Fortney has been appointed as the organization's transition president and CEO. Fortney, a pediatrician who was named Chief Medical Officer in 2009 and Senior System Medical Adviser in 2015, has been with the health system for 35 years. Plans are for the board to recruit someone to serve as interim president and CEO by the end of the year and to simultaneously launch a search for someone to permanently take the position — a search expected to last between six and nine months.

Fortney said a meeting was held Monday morning with the health system's management team, followed by a notice to all employees a half-hour later notifying them of the change. Communication was also established with the Adena Health Foundation board and a list of community leaders and vendors the health system is actively involved with. The message was that it will be business as usual for the health system.

"We're just trying to stabilize for the time being and move forward," Fortney said. "We know this isn't a time that we want to remain stagnant — we have the (emergency department expansion) project that we're actively involved with, that needs to continue forward. We're entering other markets, we've got a new physician going into Hillsboro and another one in Circleville, and we have work that needs to be done. A change in leadership at the top doesn't affect our mission, vision and values. We're still here to provide healthcare, and at the end of the day, that's what we're going to do."

Fortney said that while patients shouldn't see any impact from the change, those who have been involved with Adena's community efforts shouldn't see much of a difference either since he has worked with Shuter on strategy and community relations fronts and has been one of the faces community leaders have become accustomed to dealing with. Likewise, he feels his longevity and that of chief of staff Dr. Jack Berno will provide stability for health system staff to look to during the transition.

Steve Burkhardt, chair of the Adena Board of Trustees, agrees.

"As we conduct a search for our new CEO, members of the Adena Board of Trustees will work closely with Dr. Fortney and senior leaders in the day-to-day operations of the health system," Burkhardt said. "Adena has served the health care needs of this community and region for more than 120 years, and its ability to remain independent is high on our list of priorities.

"We intend to recruit a leader who will effectively guide Adena through the rapidly changing health care landscape while providing a strong and solid organizational foundation that will continue to support the needs of our patients, physicians, staff and the communities we serve."

Shuter has been credited with several community and health system improvements, one of the most visible being getting Adena heavily involved in the effort to renovate the Carlisle Building. Project developer Michael Chesler frequently praised Shuter for bringing Adena in as the building's tenant, saying that without his and the health system's involvement, the project likely would not have happened.

Under Shuter's watch, Adena also took large steps in establishing itself as a growing player in meeting medical education needs, constructing the PACCAR Medical Education Center, executing a vision to provide graduate medical education for physicians and staff and reaching out to create training partnerships with other educational institutions such as Ohio University-Chillicothe.

Over his 11-year tenure, Adena also has created a standalone cancer center, acquired the former Pike Community Hospital, introduced robot-assisted surgery to the region, added a three-story inpatient wing containing a Women and Children's unit, opened access to primary and specialty care in the region and just recently decided to embark on a $36.1 million expansion of Adena Regional Medical Center's emergency department.

Adena, in a release Monday morning, said patient care and services should not be affected during the leadership transition.