With Nashville’s safety-net hospital in dire financial straits and facing a tough few years ahead, its board is about to choose who will guide the ship.
The Metro Nashville Hospital Authority Board is expected to vote on a new CEO this week. That person will lead Nashville General Hospital, a city-owned facility that is a major source of indigent care in North Nashville, an economically marginalized, historically Black neighborhood. It’s also a learning lab for Meharry Medical College, one of the country’s only medical schools housed in an HBCU.
It’s down to two candidates. One is the current interim CEO, who took over last year in the midst of several public crises for the hospital. The other is an outsider. He would be coming from a similar hospital, which also relies on academic faculty for care, serves low-income patients and has to navigate severe financial strain…