Easton Hospital names interim chief Linda Grass its permanent president

Linda Grass, interim president at Easton Hospital since October, has had the interim label removed.

On Friday, the hospital announced the health care veteran Grass as its new president, effective immediately. She was most recently interim CEO of Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown, Ohio, which, like Easton Hospital, was part of Steward Health Care. Steward closed Northside in September.

“On behalf of the board of trustees, I am delighted that Linda Grass has accepted the appointment to president of Easton Hospital,” said Tom Muller, the hospital’s board chairman, in a news release. “Since Linda joined us as interim president I have been impressed with her commitment to quality, her relationships with our medical professionals and staff and her interest in the Easton area community.”

Grass replaced Jeffrey Snyder as president. Snyder, who had been with Easton Hospital since July 2017, was previously president and CEO of Pocono Medical Center, which merged with Lehigh Valley Health Network in January 2017. Muller said at the time Snyder was asked to leave, declining to provide details. Snyder took over for John Zidansek, who abruptly resigned as CEO after less than three years.

Before joining Steward Health Care, Grass spent much of her 30-year career in health care in Temple University Health System’s Jeanes Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, according to the release. During her tenure as president, Jeanes Hospital led construction of the hospital’s patient tower and the selection of Temple as a system partner

She holds master’s degrees from Arcadia University in Glenside, Montgomery County, and LaSalle University. She also earned a degree in physical therapy from Temple.

Grass becomes Easton Hospital’s permanent chief amid some turbulent times.

Last summer, officials at Steward, one of the country’s largest for-profit hospital networks, dispelled rumors of a possible sale of Easton Hospital during a meeting with the board and physicians.

Easton Hospital, whose campus stretches from South 20th to 22nd streets in Wilson, shrank from 254 beds to 196 beds from 2016 to 2017, when Steward acquired it from Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc. CHS sold some properties to pay down a heavy debt load.

Easton also scaled back its workforce to 837 full- and part-time jobs. In 2012 and 2013, the hospital employed 1,267 full- and part-time workers, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department.

Admissions and patient revenue at Easton have steadily declined. In the 2013 fiscal year, there were about 8,600 admissions, according to the Health Department. In 2017, that number was about 6,300, a decrease of 27 percent. Patient revenue fell from $181 million in fiscal 2014 to $163 million in fiscal 2017, according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. Despite the decrease, the hospital recorded a profit of $7 million during fiscal year 2017.

Steward is investing in the hospital to make it more competitive, Muller said.

Steward runs 38 community hospitals in the United States and Malta. It grew from a Massachusetts health system to a national one last year after acquiring 18 hospitals from Iasis Healthcare and eight hospitals — including Easton — from CHS. Last year, the company moved its headquarters to Dallas.