Officials at Clark Regional Medical Center say the hospital has a “promising future” despite some “recent physician departures and leadership transitions.”

In an opinion article submitted Friday, co-authors William Haugh, market president for LifePoint Health in Central Kentucky and interim CEO at CRMC, and Rebecca Bartee, chief of staff at CRMC, said, “At Clark Regional Medical Center, we have a clear vision — to create a place where people choose to come for healthcare, physicians want to practice and employees want to work. (We) want to assure our community, however, that our commitment to Clark County and our surrounding community has not waned. We continue to have an incredible team here, and we’re pushing forward toward ambitious goals.”

Haugh and Bartee said it is a priority for the hospital to find the right leader. The hospital announced in January Aphreikah Duhaney-West was no longer CEO, giving little other information other than Haugh had been named interim CEO and a national search for a new CEO was underway.

DuHaney-West was named CEO at CRMC in May 2019. She came to CRMC from Teche Regional Medical Center, another LifePoint Health facility in Morgan City, Louisiana, where she also served as CEO.

“It is a priority for me and for LifePoint to find the right leader for Clark, and I look forward to introducing you to our next CEO in the months to come,” Haugh wrote. “In the meantime, we will continue driving forward as we expand access to higher levels of care, invest in new facilities and technology, and maintain the highest standards for quality of care.”

In addition to remarks about finding a new CEO, the authors said 2020 will be a “defining year” for CRMC and Clark County with expanded access to higher levels of care and continued investments in new facilities and technology.

“We will break ground in March on the construction of a cardiac catherization lab which will significantly enhance our ability to care for higher acuity patients closer to home,” they wrote. “This project will result in $4.6 million dollars of capital investment, create jobs in our community, and, most important, will have a tremendous impact on patient care and quality outcomes. This projects also speaks to the strong regional ties at Clark and our long-standing relationship with Gill Heart Institute.”

Haugh and Bartee also noted some of the hospital’s recent accomplishments.

“Most recently, Clark Regional Medical Center was awarded an ‘A’ in fall 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing Clark’s achievements protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care,” they wrote. “Clark was one of only 13 hospitals in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to be awarded an ‘A’ grade. Clark is also proud to be a LifePoint Health National Quality Leader. This special designation recognizes hospitals that have enrolled in the LifePoint National Quality Program and succeeded in transforming their culture of safety and achieving high standards of quality care, performance improvement and patient engagement.”