Clement resigns as CEO of hospital

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo Kevin Clement, chief executive officer of Siloam Springs Regional Hospital, announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo Kevin Clement, chief executive officer of Siloam Springs Regional Hospital, announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Siloam Springs Regional Hospital chief executive officer Kevin Clement resigned effective May 22, 2015.

Clement publicly announced his resignation at the Rotary meeting on Tuesday. At the Rotary Club meeting he told members that he was proud of the hospital staff and the accomplishments that have been made. He said the time had come to make a decision for his family, so he had decided to take an equity stake in a local company and would be leaving the hospital. He said the company is a local one that does business in Arkansas and Oklahoma; however, he did not name the company.

"The search for a new CEO will begin immediately to identify the right candidate to lead our hospital as we serve our patients and community," Cathy Davis, hospital marketing director, wrote in a release.

Clement came to the hospital in March of 2009, bringing 20 years of experience in health care management, according to a February 2009 article in the Herald-Leader. Previously he served as CEO of Moberly Regional Medical Center in Moberly, Mo., and CEO of Summit Medical Center in Van Buren.

"Over the past six years, the hospital has celebrated many accomplishments under Kevin's leadership," Davis said. "Not only did we transition to the new facility during this time, we recently were recognized as a 'Top 100 SafeCare Hospital' for hospitals with less than 100 beds. We're very proud of that and the many other achievements."

David Cameron, current hospital board chairman and former city administrator, said Clement began his job as CEO during the time the hospital was making a transition from a city-owned hospital to a privately owned health-care system. He explained the city had been wanting to build a new hospital for some time but couldn't do so without a sales tax increase or a bond issue.

Community Health Systems bought the hospital from the city in 2009 and made the investment to build the new facility on Progress Avenue in 2012 under Clement's leadership, Cameron said.

The facility cost approximately $40 million and increased the size of the hospital -- particularly in the emergency room, radiology, operating rooms and obstetrics -- from 53,000-square-feet at the old hospital to 92,000 at the new one.

"I believe it took someone just like Kevin to get that done," Cameron said. "They sent the absolute perfect guy for the perfect season."

Cameron said that Clement did a great job of creating a balance between the medical community and the bottom line.

"I think he was stellar for the job," Cameron said. "I hate to see him go, but I can safely say... Kevin is an extremely talented individual who will do extremely well wherever he goes and whatever he does."

General News on 05/24/2015