The CEO of North Country Hospital in Newport resigned earlier this week following a no-confidence vote by the hospital’s staff.
The no-confidence vote against Brian Nall took place at a medical staff meeting, hospital spokesperson Wendy Franklin wrote in an email, in response to questions from VTDigger.
“Following that, the board made the decision to accept Brian Nall’s resignation as CEO of North Country Hospital,” Franklin wrote.
WCAX first reported the no-confidence vote Oct. 21. Former hospital staff members told WCAX they were unsurprised by the vote’s outcome, as there had been a previous no-confidence vote in April that failed to pass.
North Country Hospital is a 33-bed critical access hospital, employing about 580 people. The hospital’s operating budget was about $88 million in FY2021, according to filings with the Green Mountain Care Board. The hospital’s days cash on hand has sharply decreased in the past couple years, from 318 in 2020 to 221 in its 2023 budget.
Nall had been CEO for two years. Before his role in Newport, he was president & CEO at HSHS Holy Family Hospital in Greenville, Illinois.
The executive committee of North Country Hospital’s board of trustees asked chief financial officer Tracey Paul to step in as interim managing officer. The board does not yet have a timeline for finding a new, permanent CEO, Franklin said.
Paul has worked at North Country Hospital for 26 years, and has been the CFO for the past two years, according to a hospital statement. She began her career there as a staff accountant and worked her way up to controller before shifting to hospital operations in 2015.
“There is a special place in my heart for the success of this organization,” Paul said in a statement. “My family and friends receive their health care here and I have no doubt that they are provided with high-quality care. I have faith in the NCH team, their abilities, and their dedication to delivering the safest care to all our patients.”