New Metro Health COO sees challenges, opportunities

Elizabeth Slowik

 

Jepson

Metro Health has named Brian Jepson as executive vice president and COO, President & CEO Mike Faas announced today.

Jepson is taking over as Metro Health Hospital's takes over the position during a recession that has battered the bottom line and prompted layoffs, but also is hosting some strategic growth.

Jepson joined the 208-bed hospital in December 2007 as vice president of growth strategies. The promotion could make him a leading candidate to fill the shoes of President and CEO Mike Faas, 56, at some future date.

Faas will focus on Metro Health's strategic direction and opportunities for growth and will step up his activity in the West Michigan community, according to a news release. Jepson, 39, will take responsibility for the $137 million operating budget, more than 1,000 employees and 14 neighborhood centers, and will continue to be in charge of business development and physician relations. He replaces former COO Dan Holwerda, although the position has been vacant for a year.

In his previous role, Jepson oversaw the Cancer Center of Metro Health Village's connection with the University of Michigan Hospital System for radiation services at the Wyoming campus.

Jepson said the challenges ahead of Metro Health include uncertainty about the shape of health care reform, the recession's pressure on the financial picture, and finding ways to maintain cohesiveness among employees in a larger hospital that also has 14 neighborhood centers.

Metro Health saw its credit rating sink and laid off 69 people over the 12 months after seeing a loss of $11.7 million in the fiscal year that ended in 2008. However, Jepson said he expects Metro will add 25 staff members for the surgical center opening in downtown Grand Rapids in the fall.

Jepson said Metro Health is expecting a positive margin on operations. The fiscal year ended June 30.

"A lot of that had to do with the new facility. We staffed up for that move, not knowing how much staff we were going to need — we geared up for that," he said. "We started feeling a real pinch with the economy. We had to make tough decisions. You don't want to do those things; you have to do them."

A native of Warren, Ohio, Jepson holds a BBA and a master's in health care administration, both from Ohio University. Prior to joining Metro Health, he spent seven years as executive vice president and COO of Morris Hospital and Healthcare Centers in Illinois, an 86-bed hospital southwest of Chicago. He has accumulated a total of 15 years in health care management and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Jepson lives in Cascade Township with his wife, Tammy, and their four children.