BRENTWOOD, Tenn., Nov. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corizon Health today announced the appointment of Stephen A. Rector as the company’s Chief Executive Officer beginning December 1, 2017.
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“Steve is exactly the right fit to continue transforming Corizon Health into the country’s leading provider of correctional healthcare – not just in size but also in reputation for delivering best-in-class care for this underserved population,” Jeff Goldberg, Corizon Health Board Chair said. “Our executive team literally cheered when we let them know Steve had agreed to join us.”
Rector’s 28-year career is distinguished by repeated success in leading financial, operational, and cultural excellence within large, complex healthcare providers. He currently is transitioning from serving as a Division Vice President for Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, Inc. (CHS), one of the nation’s leading operators of general acute care hospitals. Rector’s prior experience includes serving as CEO of HCA’s Regional Medical Center in Bayonet Point, FL and CEO of South Bay Hospital in Sun City Center, FL; Chief Operating Officer of North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville, FL; and as Regional Director for Nashville, Tennessee-based LifePoint Hospitals, directing physician practices at six hospitals. He began his career at Saint Thomas Health Services in Nashville where he was tapped for increasingly responsible roles, culminating in leading the hospital’s rural network of physician-practice-management operations.
“Earlier this year, Corizon Health completed an important recapitalization, resulting in new ownership, a new leadership philosophy, and a healthy balance sheet,” Goldberg said. “Steve brings the perfect mix of operational experience and transformational leadership skills that Corizon needs to reach its full potential as the nation’s correctional healthcare provider of choice.”
Rector, a Kentucky native who holds a Master’s of Health Administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and an undergraduate degree from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, will lead an organization of 6,400 healthcare staff, the majority of whom are nurses, providing care to an average daily population of almost 200,000 inmate patients in 269 facilities across 21 states.
“I am honored by the confidence the Corizon Health Board of Directors and Senior Executive Team have given me,” Rector said. “Corizon Health has a wonderful team of dedicated clinicians. Those clinicians do a tremendous job in a challenging environment, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to bring them the tools and resources they need to continuously improve the care they provide.”
Rector said the public service aspect and legal overlay of Corizon Health’s business is a new and unique arena in which to operate, but is based on the same principles that motivated him in the hospital environment.
“Our clients count on us to meet their constitutional requirement for care within limited, and increasingly stretched, taxpayer-funded budgets,” Rector said. “While this brings with it some new challenges that I’m looking forward to embracing, at its heart it is about building a cohesive team and creating an environment in which they can employ best practices and evidence-based medicine in serving their patients.”
About Corizon Health
Corizon Health is the leading provider of correctional healthcare services in the United States, providing quality healthcare services to states and municipalities across the country. Corizon offers individual or comprehensive solutions for physical care, behavioral care, pharmaceutical and reentry services. For more information, please visit www.corizonhealth.com.