Keith Hovan to take helm <br>at Southcoast Hospitals

FALL RIVER – Health care executive and clinician Keith A. Hovan, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, has been named to succeed Dr. Ronald B. Goodspeed as president and CEO of Southcoast Hospitals Group.
“Keith Hovan has distinguished himself as a premiere leader in health care, with a keen insight, high energy and an unwavering determination to provide the best patient care and the finest patient experience,” John B. Day, president and CEO of Southcoast Health System, the parent of the hospital group, said in a statement yesterday afternoon. “He really knows how to bring patients, staff, physicians and the community together to deliver the highest-quality patient care.”
A member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Hovan is also an experienced clinician. He was first in his graduate-school class at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., where he earned his bachelor and master of science degrees in nursing.
“Southcoast is truly an outstanding organization that is squarely focused on what’s most important in health care – our patients,” Hovan said in a statement. “I am honored to be given this opportunity to work with such a talented group of physicians and staff, and look forward to continuing to bring advanced health services to the South Coast region.”
At Danbury– which he joined in 2001, as senior vice president of operations – Hovan led the development of the hospital’s Center of Excellence strategy, building relationships with business, community and government leaders. He also oversaw the opening of an open-heart surgery and interventional cardiology program, a new outpatient facility and an imaging and ambulatory care center. Among other awards during his tenure, Danbury was named a Solucient Top 100 Hospital for three years in a row.
Before joining Danbury Hospital, he had served as vice president of clinical services at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and in various clinical leadership positions at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut.
“His focus on patient care will be a perfect complement to the existing culture of compassionate care at Southcoast Hospitals,” said Eileen Farley, chair of the hospital group’s board of trustees and a member of the of trustees, physicians and administrators that led Southcoast’s five-month national search.
“Hovan has shown that he can forge successful and lasting relationships with physicians, staff and the community,” added fellow search-panel member Dr. Gilbert Shapiro, a Southcoast physician and chair of the health system’s board of trustees. “He is extremely skilled at helping groups with competing interests see the big picture and build a win-win relationship that ultimately benefits our patients.”
Hovan will join Southcoast on July 1, the hospital group said.
Goodspeed, who is retiring after more than 18 years with the health care system, will stay on until October to help ensure a smooth transition.
Meanwhile, Southcoast said, “to honor a career built upon an unwavering dedication to delivering top-quality, patient-driven care in a community setting,” the hospital group already has established the Dr. Ronald Goodspeed Endowed Chair in Patient Safety & Quality, raising more than $2.5 million to date “to assure these standards of practice remain and are enhanced for future generations of patients and caregivers.”
The Southcoast Hospitals Group – a subsidiary of Southcoast Health Systems, a nonprofit health care network based in Fall River – comprises Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham, Mass. To learn more, visit www.southcoast.org.