[I]n some ways, Claudio Fort says it will be tough to leave North Country Health System in Newport, where he’s been in charge since 2008.
“I think the Northeast Kingdom is kind of the underdog in Vermont … and I think there’s untapped potential in this community,” Fort said.
But he’s also looking forward to a “great professional opportunity” at Rutland Regional Medical Center, where Fort will soon succeed retiring President and CEO Tom Huebner.
Though Rutland is much larger than North Country, Fort said, “The challenges for all hospitals in Vermont are similar: How do you continue to have good access, good quality and bring the cost of health care down?”
The pending leadership change is a rare occurrence for Rutland Regional: Huebner started work at that hospital in 1990 and became president and CEO seven years later.
In an interview last year, Huebner said he was planning to retire simply because it was the “right moment” to depart. “I just got to an age and a point that it felt like the right thing to do,” he said.
Heubner’s retirement takes effect at the end of March. On Friday, Rutland Regional announced that Fort was the hospital board’s unanimous choice to take over.
Fort won’t be leaving North Country right away: He said he has agreed to stay on for a short period of time to aid the transition there. Rutland administrators said Barbara Robinson, the hospital’s vice president of clinical operations, will serve as interim president and CEO until Fort arrives.
John Casella, chair of Rutland Regional’s board, said the hospital “thrives under a unique leadership style and a special type of leader.”
“We’re confident Claudio is that leader, today and for the future of Rutland Regional,” Casella said in a statement released by the hospital.
Rutland is the state’s second-largest hospital, and has taken on some major capital projects recently including a $6 million emergency department expansion completed last year and a nearly $24 million medical office project approved in January.
Fort, a native of Nashua, New Hampshire, will be bringing almost three decades of health care administration experience to Rutland. Speaking about his most recent post at North Country, Fort emphasized the value of partnerships.
He said he worked with a local federally qualified health center to bring a dental clinic “for the first time ever to the Barton/Orleans community.” The hospital also worked with Northeast Kingdom Human Services “to put mental health clinicians in our primary care practices,” Fort said.
The result, he said, is “a more holistic primary care presence” where physicians can “coordinate care far better than we’ve been able to do previously.”
Fort said North Country also has bolstered its primary care offerings, meeting a need that comes up often in statewide health care policy discussions.
When he took the North Country job, “access to primary care was the greatest strategic challenge,” Fort said. “We still have some challenges in that area, but we’ve come a long way to improve this.”
After nearly a decade in Newport, Fort said he feels rooted in North Country’s culture and the communities the health system serves. But he’s also ready to try something new.
“The good thing for me is, I’m not leaving Vermont,” Fort said. “I like this state. I feel like I’ve made some good connections statewide.”
