New executives named for recently sold Providence Hospitals

LifePoint Health, the Tennessee company that agreed this summer to purchase Columbia-based Providence Hospitals, named two executives who will be in charge after the sale is completed.

The executives have started their new jobs at Providence and will assume the same roles when the deal is finished by Feb. 1, LifePoint said.

The sale of Providence’s two hospitals requires a review by the S.C. Attorney General’s office and approval from the Vatican, which is needed because of Providence’s ownership ties to the Catholic Church.

Scott Campbell, a 30-year healthcare veteran who joined Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint this summer, will become chief executive officer of Providence Hospitals.

Phil Young, a 10-year LifePoint executive, was named lead administrator for Providence’s Northeast campus.

Terrence Kessler, president of Providence’s Cleveland-based parent company Sisters of Charity Health System, has been Providence’s interim chef executive since Jan. 1. Drew Waterman, the chief administrative officer for Providence’s hospital in Northeast Columbia, will report to Young.

Campbell and Young have worked with Providence since soon after the sale was announced this summer, said Jeff Seraphine, president of LifePoint’s Eastern Group of hospitals.

The executives “have earned the trust and respect of those who have come to know them,” Seraphine said in a statement. “Scott and Phil are ideally suited and well prepared to lead Providence Hospitals and ensure the fulfillment of LifePoint’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity and mission of the organization throughout and beyond the completion of the acquisition.”

LifePoint, a public corporation listed on the NASDAQ, announced in July that it would purchase Providence Hospitals from Sisters of Charity Health System. The sale price was not disclosed.

LifePoint executives said when the sale was announced that the hospital will keep its name and its Catholic mission, including charitable care. The 77-year-old hospital employs about 1,600 workers.

Providence will maintain its ties to the church through the bishop in Charleston and uphold church ethics and religious directives, including a ban on abortions, officials said.

LifePoint owns more than 60 hospitals in 20 states. Providence will become the company’s first hospitals in South Carolina.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 5:25 PM with the headline "New executives named for recently sold Providence Hospitals."