CEO Mark Eustis to leave Fairview Health Services

Fairview Health Services, the Minneapolis-based system at the center of the controversy with billing and collections company Accretive Health, did not renew the contract of President and CEO Mark Eustis (PDF) during a special meeting Wednesday.

Eustis will retire July 31. Chuck Mooty, Fairview's board chairman, was named interim chief executive.

“Mark committed to five years as Fairview's CEO,” Mooty said in the statement. “During that time, he established a clear, compelling vision for the future of health care delivery at Fairview.”

Fairview's billing and collection contract with Accretive Health was the subject of a highly critical six-volume report by Minnesota's attorney general. The report suggested that Accretive may have violated emergency room access, privacy and consumer protection laws, claims that the company has denied. Accretive has dismissed claims in the attorney general's report as “innuendo and speculation.”

The report prompted a congressional inquiry and drew national attention to efforts to collect money from patients before or during treatment, even in the emergency room. Accretive Health's shares dropped on the news and have not yet fully recovered.

Fairview spokeswoman Jennifer Amundson declined to comment on whether the decision not to renew was directly related to the state's investigation of Accretive.

The system called Eustis “instrumental” in its efforts to improve to improve care and reduce costs and said Fairview became a Medicare Pioneer accountable care organization under his leadership.

The search for a successor will begin immediately, the system said.

The company declined to provide Eustis' age.