EDITORIAL: New model — and leader — for your hospital
If Jon Ness has his way, Kootenai Health patients in July 2024 will experience the same excellent care as patients in July 2023. Any differences will be negligible and unnoticeable.
Yet two dramatic changes will in fact have taken place. One, Kootenai Health will have shifted from a public hospital district to a nonprofit. And two, after more than 13 years on the job, Jon Ness will no longer be the organization’s CEO.
On Thursday, the same day The Press carried a front-page update on Kootenai Health’s transition to nonprofit, Ness announced his plans to retire early next year. He's not leaving until after the move to nonprofit is complete and the next CEO is on the job.
Many of the organization's 4,000+ employees have only known Ness as their leader. It's unlikely any employees have been there longer than Ness and his predecessor.
CEO Joe Morris manned the hospital helm for 37 years. Together, Ness and Morris will have led the organization for a half century. How many enterprises can boast such steady, consistent leadership over so long a period? Especially enterprises that are in the business of improving and saving lives?
Even though the two men presided over very different times — Morris’s charge was primarily to maintain a good local hospital, while Ness’s mission was to meet the increasing demands of a burgeoning and aging population while competing against facilities in Spokane and beyond — both were fully committed to serving their community. Doing that by providing the highest quality medical care possible was the goal both leaders shared, a goal both met and exceeded.
On July 31, 2010, The Press announced on its front page the hiring of a new CEO to replace Morris that September.
"Of all the candidates interviewed, Jon is the best fit for Kootenai's culture," Morris said then.
Longtime hospital board member Paul Anderson added, “Jon not only had the experience we were looking for; he brings a wealth of new ideas that will help Kootenai move into the future as it meets the new challenges brought about by health care reform legislation."
Ness has indeed fit Kootenai’s culture, and that goes for both the hospital and for the community. Anderson pegged it precisely when he said trustees were impressed by Ness’s innovative ideas, which have helped carry the region’s largest employer through unprecedented growth, increased competition and existential challenges from the pandemic.
In the months ahead, hospital trustees will conduct a national search for Ness’s replacement. Lucky for them, they can lean on one of the nation's finest CEOs in the meantime.