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New CEO at PMC hits the ground running |
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Wednesday, 12 September 2007 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
 Bruce Porter, 47 years old, has been hired as the new CEO of the Pondera Medical Center.
He hit the ground running on Monday, replacing Jim Christensen who resigned to take a similar position in Kentucky. Christensen was at the PMC for seven years, two more than the average for a hospital CEO.
Porter grew up in Indiana and went to Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., where he earned a BS degree in Accounting. He attended the University of Missouri in Columbia where he worked towards his masters in H.C.A.
He comes to Conrad from Alturas, Calif., a town of about 3,200 in size, located in the far northeastern portion of the state.
He was the CEO at Modoc, a hospital also similar to the PMC with 87 beds, 16 acute and a nursing home unit of 71 beds and a patient population of 60 and a rural clinic.
He has over 20 years of financial and administrative healthcare experience working with Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) of which the PMC is, rural healthcare clinics, long-term care.
Asked why he was interested in changing positions, he said, “The mission (here-Modoc) is accomplished and it’s time to move on and settle somewhere else.”
Porter went on to add, “A small town is important to us. We like your community, you don’t have to sell us on that.”
He was specifically hired to initiate the reorganization of the three facilities at Modoc and bring them back into compliance with all federal and state regulations.
“That happened within in 10 months in all three facilities,” he noted.
He created a plan to reduce their long-term debt, resulting in a $240,000 reduction, wrote marketing strategies for all three facilities, “that created a 300 percent increase in acute patient days and the recruitment of three new doctors,” he noted.
Before going to Modoc, Porter was the CFO for Kindred Healthcare, a 248 bed multi-site facility, in the La Miranda, Santa Ana, and San Gabriel Valley in California.
He has held similar CFO positions in Indiana, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia, all with high degrees of success.
Asked about his management style, Porter said, “I am an accountable person, a visionary and like a challenge.” He admits to being community oriented, likes team building and playing a mentoring role.
Porter and his wife, a licensed attorney (not currently practicing), have two children ages five and seven. While this wasn’t planned, both girls have the same birthday.
“We are outdoor people and like horses,” he added.
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