MetroWest Medical Center names its seventh CEO in eight years
Photo I Courtesy of Tenet Healthcare
Greg McFarland, CEO of MetroWest Medical Center
Just over three months after the CEO of MetroWest Medical Center resigned from the role, the Framingham-based facility has selected Greg McFarland as its new leader.
In his new role, McFarland will oversee the center’s Framingham Union Hospital and Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, serving as the hospitals’ seventh CEO since 2017.
“Greg brings a great blend of experience, leadership skills and strategic thinking to this role,” Denten Park, CEO of Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and of the Massachusetts market for parent company Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, said in the release. “We are honored to have him lead the team at MetroWest Medical Center to deliver high-quality care to the communities we serve.”
Both MetroWest Medical Center and Saint Vincent Hospital are operated by Tenet Healthcare.
McFarland comes to MetroWest Medical Center having most recently served as chief operating officer of Hillcrest Medical Center, a 656-bed hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He held that C-suite role since March 2023 after having first joined the facility in December 2020 as an assistant administrator, according to his LinkedIn profile.
At MetroWest Medical Center, McFarland succeeds John Whitlock, who stepped down as CEO in early April. Whitlock had assumed the interim position in January 2023 and was named to the permanent role in July of that year. At the time of his resignation, Whitlock was the longest-serving CEO out of the center’s previous four leaders since December 2020.
Whitlock now serves as CFO of Lawrence General Hospital and Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and Methuen. Both hospitals are owned by Lawrence General.
McFarland earned his master’s degree from Trinity University in Texas and his bachelor’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University.
He comes to the medical center as Framingham Union Hospital has been under fire from union nurses and community advocates since it announced in April its intentions to close the hospital’s 12-bassinet NICU and transition to a solely well-baby nursery by June 10.
As of Monday, the hospital’s NICU remains open, a Framingham Union nurse confirmed with WBJ over the phone.
The hospital’s original announcement was met with uproar from community advocates and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the labor union representing Framingham Union nurses.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health determined Framingham Union Hospital’s NICU was medically necessary to the region and demanded the hospital return a plan outlining how it will continue to meet community needs after the NICU’s closure.
The hospital responded with a plan in May, communicating it would consider operating a step-down NICU in response to the public outcry. The DPH followed up by pressing for more details.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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