In wake of slogan debacle, CaroMont fires CEO

CaroMont Health in Gastonia, N.C., has fired its president and CEO, Randall Kelley.

The decision to release Kelley comes in the wake of a controversial rebranding campaign that proposed changing the name of Gaston Memorial Hospital to CaroMont Regional Medical Center and adopting the slogan “Cheat Death.”

At a meeting on April 15, the board of directors met with Kelley to discuss concerns voiced by CaroMont staff and subsequently decided to terminate Kelley's contract. The board then named executive VP and COO Douglas Luckett interim president and CEO.

“With these actions, the board will enter a period of reflection to evaluate the current environment, improve communications and repair relationships,” Spurgeon Mackie, chairman of the board of directors, said in a news release. “This was a difficult decision; however, the board is confident we can move forward in a positive and constructive manner.”

Though the "Cheat Death" tagline was quickly pulled to prevent what Kelley called a critically important message from being sacrificed—“our intent was never to offend or incite”—backlash continued.

Kelley came to Gaston Memorial Hospital in January 2012 from Inova Health System, where he was senior VP of the Falls Church, Va.-based system and CEO of Inova Loudoun Hospital in Leesburg, Va. He replaced former CEO Valinda Rutledge, who had left to become director of the patient care models group at CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

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