CEO of Via Christi leaves for Coventry

Kevin Conlin, the chief executive of Via Christi Health for the past six years, is leaving to become executive vice president of Coventry Health Care in Bethesda, Md.

Conlin, 52, will be involved in a transitional plan for the leadership of the health system, said David Strohm, chairman of Via Christi's board of trustees.

Conlin was traveling Thursday and unavailable for comment, spokesman Mike McLaughlin said.

Strohm praised Conlin's accomplishments at Via Christi, which employs more than 9,000 people, including 5,000 in Wichita. He said a national search for his replacement will begin immediately.

"Kevin has been a great addition to the Via Christi team, and I hate to see him go, but that's the way business is," Strohm said.

Conlin moved Via Christi Health "from a group of hospitals to a health care system," Strohm said.

"Kevin greatly assisted us in that transformation through changes like centralized purchasing, centralized finance, some of the back-office things that create efficiencies in an organization."

Strohm said Conlin and his management team also helped increase medical efficiencies.

"Kevin and the team he built have been fairly innovative in health care and allowing new things like ePharmacy and putting all critical care rooms under video monitoring to centralize that kind of care electronically," Strohm said.

Conlin oversaw the $65 million sale of Preferred Health Systems, the insurance company Via Christi owned, to Coventry. That sale closed in February.

Conlin joined Via Christi Health in March 2004. He is a native of Wilmington, Del.

His interest in health care dates back to his first job, washing dishes at a hospital while in high school.

He earned a degree in biological sciences with a minor in English from Rutgers University, then earned a master's degree in health administration at Duke before beginning his career.

His resume began in a residency and a job with Baptist Health System in Birmingham, Ala.

From there, he moved to Knoxville, Tenn., first as administrator of East Tennessee Baptist Hospital and then as acting chief executive of the Baptist Health System.

Conlin also served as chief executive of Hotel Dieu Hospital in New Orleans.

Other resume credits include stints as chief executive of DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk, Va., and with a subsidiary of Ascension Health, a health system based in St. Louis.

Strohm said an initial search committee has already been identified and will meet next week with a consulting firm specializing in health care executives.

This story was originally published November 5, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "CEO of Via Christi leaves for Coventry."