Baylor St. Luke's continues leadership restructuring — 3 executive appointments

Anuja Vaidya -

Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston added three executives to its leadership team.

John Byrne, MD, will serve as Baylor St. Luke's senior vice president and CMO. He most recently served as CMO of Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster, Texas, a part of Houston-based HCA Gulf Coast Division. He has previous experience as COO and CMO of Pawtucket, R.I.-based Care New England Memorial Hospital as well as chief of cardiac surgery and co-director of cardiovascular center for Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Baylor St. Luke's named Loretta Lee, RN, acting chief nursing officer. She has held senior leadership roles at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., over her more than 30-year career in nursing.

Megan Fischer is Baylor St. Luke's new vice president of quality. She most recently served as vice president of quality and patient safety at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center. She has also served as vice president of quality at Overland Park, Kan.-based HCA Midwest Health.

The three appointments follow the resignations of Baylor St. Luke's President Gay Nord, Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Nitschmann, MSN, RN, and Senior Vice President of Operations David Berger, MD. T. Douglas Lawson, PhD, CEO of the Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives' Texas Division, was named president of Baylor St. Luke's earlier this week.

In early 2019, CMS initiated a review of a patient death that occurred at the hospital. The patient died after receiving the wrong type the wrong type of blood during a transfusion.

"We are moving rapidly to recruit and onboard the executive expertise we need to address the deficiencies cited last week in a Centers for Medicaid and Medicare review, even before receiving the final report. Also, we are working on our 90-day plan to review current operations and to take every step necessary to keep us on the path of excellence and to earn the trust of our patients," said Dr. Lawson.

Editor's note: This article mistakenly stated Dr. Byrne's and Ms. Fischer's most recent roles. The article was updated Jan. 22 at 5:05 p.m.

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