Ben Fenton was recently asked by Modern Healthcare to provide insight on the news that Sentara Healthcare CEO Howard Kern plans to retire from his role by the end of 2022, an announcement which comes less than a year after Sentara retracted intentions of an intensive merger with Cone Health.
According to Ben, the scrapped merger could have contributed to Kern’s decision to depart as CEO, due to the fact that mergers of this magnitude require substantial time and attention. “It’s an enormous amount of work,” Ben shares. “The direction of the company is basically going to have to be thrown out the window. This is speculation, but I can imagine how that could just impact morale in terms of the leadership and result in a CEO stepping down.”
The article explores various possibilities behind Kern’s decision to retire after his successful tenure with the organization. Under Kern’s leadership, Sentara rose to become Virginia’s largest health care system and second largest private employer, with revenue generation of $9 billion in 2020 and over $10 billion in 2021.
Read the full article below. (Subscribers only.)
