Hospital board hires interim operating officer

An interim Chief Operating Officer, Tom Corley, has been chosen for Whitman Hospital after the resignation of CEO David Womack.

The hospital board voted unanimously April 20 to hire Corley who has acted as a liaison under the hospital’s management contract with Providence Health Care (PHC) for the past year.

Womack’s last day at the hospital is May 6. He and his wife Julie are moving to Bakersfield, Calif., where Womack has accepted a job as an executive director with a branch of a major medical chain, Permanente.

PHC has a management contract with Whitman Hospital. Under the contract, PHC manages the hiring of the hospital’s CEO.

Board chairman John Perry said Providence has already started a nation-wide search for the permanent administrator for Whitman.

Corley told the Gazette a hire could be made in as soon as three months.

“It’s do-able,” Corley said.

Once Providence narrows the candidates down to four, the hospital board and administrative staff will interview the four candidates and make a final choice.

Corley will act as interim administrator until the new, permanent CEO is hired.

When Womack turned in his resignation, Corley told the board he would try to find an interim CEO. He later told the board he would be willing to act as interim for the months it takes to hire a permanent CEO.

Corley lives in Spokane and will commute to Colfax two to four days a week.

Corley was two weeks away from retiring from his full-time position as Chief Operating Officer of Providence Health Care for the eastern Washington region. He worked as the CEO of Holy Family Hospital for 10 years prior to that.