Dr. Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence for 11 years, will retire Jan.1, the health system announced Wednesday.
The Renton, Washington-based system, which has 51 hospitals, more than 1,000 clinics and 120,000 employees in seven states, said its board has begun a search for a successor. Hochman will move into the role of CEO emeritus.
Related: Providence employees awarded $98M in wage suit
During his past 11 years as president and CEO, the nonprofit Catholic health system completed a number of mergers, including with Irvine, California-based St. Joseph Health and Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Washington. As part of its digital innovation group, Providence has spun out four organizations, including Praia, a patient portal service company.
Providence invested $100 million in 2016 to support community-based behavioral health and substance misuse programs and $50 million in 2020 to work toward reducing care disparities, according to the health system.
Recently, the health system found itself embroiled in lawsuits involving its treatment of employees and patients.
Last month, Providence was ordered to pay more than $98 million to 33,000 employees in a class action lawsuit for uncompensated work due to time-clock rounding and unpaid meal periods. In February, Providence agreed to refund $21 million in medical bills paid by 34,000 low-income Washington residents — and erase $137 million in outstanding debt for about 65,000 patients — to settle a suit filed by the state that alleged the health system overcharged patients and used aggressive collection tactics to collect payment. Providence previously erased $125 million in outstanding medical debt two years ago after the state's lawsuit.
The system has been operating in the red the past two years, recording a net loss of $600 million during its fiscal 2023 and $6.12 billion a year earlier. Providence cited inflation, labor shortages, delayed reimbursements and supply chain disruptions as reasons for its losses. The health system has made cuts to its executive team, renegotiated insurer payment rates, increased its surgical capacity and reduced shared services.
Hochman, an immunologist and rheumatologist, was president and CEO of Swedish Health Services when it was acquired by Providence in 2012. During his 45-year career in heathcare, he also held senior executive positions at Sentara Healthcare, the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and Guthrie Clinic, a nonprofit health system based in Sayre, Pennsylvania.
