Mr. Dandrige is employed by QHR and has served as CEO since 1993. The existing management agreement states Regional Medical Center cannot employ a CEO placed by QHR at the end of the contract, although QHR has an option to waive that contract provision.
Regional Medical Center’s board voted 8-6, with one abstention, to issue a 90-day termination notice for the county-owned hospital’s management contract effective Dec. 31. That means Regional Medical Center will be under QHR management until March 31, at which time the contract with QHR will end after 23 years.
“The board does what they need to do and I work for them,” Mr. Dandridge told the Times and Democrat. “It is what it is.”
Mr. Dandridge declined to speculate why the board voted to end the agreement with QHR, and board trustees have not disclosed their reasons for the vote.
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