Parkland Names Ex-Tenet Exec Interim CEO

Robert L. (Bob) Smith, a retired Tenet Healthcare Corp. executive, is the new interim CEO of the beleaguered Parkland Health & Hospital System. The Dallas health system's board of managers made the appointment during a regularly scheduled executive session Wednesday morning.

Smith will replace Thomas Royer, MD, who has served as interim CEO since Dec. 2011 and will remain in that position until his contract expires at the end of this month. Smith is not expected to take the helm until mid-September.

Smith comes to Parkland at a critical time. The safety net hospital is racing the clock to resolve serious deficiencies that threaten patient safety as well as the facility's financial survival. The hospital has until April 2013 to work its way through a 400-item federally mandated corrective action plan (CAP) to address Parkland's shortcomings.

"Bob has extensive experience doing just what we need him to do: taking an organization facing significant challenges and turning it around," said Debbie Branson, chair of Parkland's board of managers. "With his engagement, we finish a task we started a few weeks ago when we named other new members of our senior leadership team, all selected because of their experience transforming challenged organizations."