South Peninsula Hospital has a new CEO. Joe Woodin is taking over after Robert Letson retired this fall. Woodin has thirty years of experience in healthcare leadership in Massachusetts and Vermont. He said South Peninsula Hospital has similar qualities and challenges to the other small-sized hospitals where he’s worked.
"They do need to continue to look at their finances and expenses because there's so much downward pressure, understandably, on the cost of healthcare. So, that's a constant theme," he said, "and the issue of always looking at quality, trying to improve quality, improve the patient experience that people have. I think South Peninsula Hospital has those challenges ahead of them. But a lot of opportunities, and I think the previous CEO administrator left the hospital in very good shape."
Woodin said he was drawn to Homer for its beauty and size.
"Being in a small rural community, I actually enjoy that and find that more attractive than being in a larger metropolitan area or city," he said. "I've certainly done some of both, and I think small-town America is much more appealing."
Woodin was most recently CEO of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in Massachusetts, where he was fired this past summer. In an op-ed in the Martha Vineyard Times, a member of hospital’s board said the decision came from a difference in vision between the board and the CEO.
The Boston Globe reported the move stunned the community and inspired an outcry among residents who rallied around Woodin. He declined to comment on the matter.
Woodin will begin working at South Peninsula Hospital on March 26.
