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Thomas Litz has more than a passing familiarity with troubled hospital systems.
As Carraway Methodist Medical Center's new chief executive, Litz is on his third go-around with transforming systems that have been rocked by poor financial results.
Most recently, he served as president and chief executive of ViaHealth in Rochester, N.Y., and was forced to close a 388bed hospital to keep the entire system from crashing.
"I had to close a hospital. That's gut-wrenching," he says. "You're amputating a part of the organization to save the rest of it."
He was forced out for his efforts.
"He made the right decision, although it was an unpopular decision," says John Piedman, chairman of the ViaHealth board's finance committee. "He did a very good job up here. He saved the system."
At Carraway, he takes charge of a venerable institution that management believes has turned the comer in its reorganization effort. "This organization is far ahead of where the other two were, and that really comes from within," he says. "I've been impressed...