The Leader in Jacksonville has the scoop on a shakeup at the North Metro Medical Center owned by Allegiance Health Management.

State Rep. Joe Farrer of Austin, who’d been interim CEO, resigned after owners reinstated a doctor he’d asked to resign. The hospital nursing director also quit. The newspaper reports that the doctor at issue is under investigation by the state Medical Board and Farrer had patient care concerns.

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The article details operating problems at the hospital — particularly on meeting payments to employees — as well as institutions in other states owned by the same company.

 

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“I don’t know what they were thinking, you’d have to ask them,” Farrer said. “All I know is that I could not in good conscience be party to that.”

Deb Bostic, the chief nursing officer, resigned over the same concerns. “We were touted as Allegiance Health Management’s flagship hospital, but I don’t believe they have the ethical and moral standards to run this hospital,” she said. “They do not have the capacity to run a hospital.”

Farrer, who has given 20 years to the hospital, still loves North Metro, he said. “I took the job of CEO to save the hospital and to help keep 350 people employed. I even invested my money in what I believe. The staff is wonderful.”

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