Jeff Sandene made the transition June 1 from executive vice president and CFO to president and CEO of Charleston, W.Va.-based Vandalia Health, but it was his more than nine years with the system that helped the transition feel like a natural progression.
Mr. Sandene succeeded Dave Ramsey upon his retirement, with Pat Keel taking the helm as Vandalia’s new executive vice president and CFO. Mr. Ramsey will also stay on as a strategic advisor to the board amid the transition to share his 26 years of experience with the system and more than 47 years in healthcare.
“Having worked with Dave for the last nine-plus years, he’s been a great mentor to me,” Mr. Sandene told Becker’s. “He’s really let me, since the beginning of the year, take more of a leadership role, even though he and I had worked so closely together on all of our strategies.”
Vandalia Health is a multi-state health system that comprises CAMC Health System, Davis Health System and Mon Health System.
The system has grown substantially over the years, and features 17 hospitals, including 14 owned and three managed facilities. Its 18th hospital, Mon Harrison Neighborhood Hospital in Bridgeport, W.Va., will open this October. The system also has around $330 million invested in active construction projects.
“That organic growth is going to be a big part of what we’re doing,” he said. “We don’t have to merge with someone, nor does someone have to merge with us. There’s other kinds of business ways we can drive together. There’s joint ventures that we can look at differently … and so we’re going to be looking for different partnerships that help us drive our costs lower and improve our quality across the communities that we serve.”
As CEO, Mr. Sandene said it’s not about introducing sweeping changes, but completing ongoing initiatives and deepening systemwide relationships.
One area of interest is Vandalia’s EHR strategy. While the system has operated with Oracle’s Cerner for more than nine years, it is conducting due diligence on whether to stay the course or make a change.
“We’re trying to see who’s going to be the winner in AI,” he said. “Everyone’s doubling down on AI — agents and technologies — but I’m still looking at the core functionality of revenue cycle to clinical optimization to how the patient portals look from the standpoint of the interaction with our patients.”
Mr. Sandene and his team are also working on a new three-year strategic plan, which will go to the full board for approval in October or November.
He said the plan will incorporate physician voices more prominently than in prior cycles, reflecting a new medical staff leadership structure.
“The next two years are going to be really pivotal for us from a standpoint of laying the foundation, continuation and finishing some of the initiatives that we’ve started, so that we’re well positioned for the next three to five years [and] beyond that as we continue to evolve,” he said.
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