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Carolyn Jackson, CEO of Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, will resign from her position on Feb. 14.
“After careful consideration, Carolyn Jackson, CEO of Saint Vincent Hospital and the Massachusetts market, has decided to step down from her role with our organization. After serving nearly six years in a difficult union environment, Carolyn is choosing to focus on the next chapter of her career,” Maggie Gill, eastern group president for Saint Vincent parent firm Tenet Healthcare of Dallas, wrote in a Monday letter to hospital leaders and medical staff.
In 2019, Jackson assumed her position as CEO of Tenet’s Massachusetts operations and of Saint Vincent, the largest for-profit hospital system in Central Massachusetts and the region’s second largest hospital.
Jackson served as Saint Vincent CEO for far longer than Tenet’s other hospital CEOs in Central Massachusetts. Jackson’s predecessor, Jeffrey Welch, left the position after 14 months. The MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick, which is also a Tenet hospital, had three different CEOs between 2021-2023.
Shortly after she started in her position at Saint Vincent, Jackson would become the face of ongoing controversy surrounding both the hospital and Tenet.
Since 2021, Jackson has faced criticism from both political figures and community leaders following an historic 301-day nurses strike and hundreds of complaints filed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The MNA expressed reassurance regarding Jackson’s departure in a statement to WBJ.
“The nurses of St. Vincent Hospital are relieved by the departure of Carolyn Jackson as the hospital’s embattled CEO and hopes this decision signals an opportunity for new leadership at Tenet’s hospitals in Massachusetts (including Framingham Union Hospital and Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick), leadership that places the safety of patients and the recognition of the valuable role that frontline staff play in delivering the quality of care these facilities provide to the communities they serve,” David Schildmeier, MNA director of public communications, wrote in a Tuesday email to WBJ.
In December, the MNA filed its sixth round of complaints levied against Saint Vincent in which the association claimed understaffing at the hospital contributed to two patient deaths. The latest suite of allegations came after Saint Vincent nurses filed more than 600 complaints against the hospital between July 2023 and January 2024, citing understaffing, poor working conditions, and dangerous patient safety concerns.
“Ms. Jackson, and her leadership team are responsible for the unprecedented degradation of patient care at St. Vincent Hospital and other hospitals under her supervision, the longest nurses strike in state history, and a punitive culture that saw the daily violation of staff’s union rights,” Schildmeier wrote.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health subsequently launched an investigation into the hospital. DPH closed the investigation in March with the DPH confirming the hospital was back in compliance with state and federal requirements. The department opened a new investigation into the hospital on Sept. 12, which is still open, the DPH confirmed with WBJ Tuesday.
Amidst the hospital’s continued turmoil, Jackson led the hospital as it upgraded its electronic health record system and integrated new pieces of equipment into its practices, including a CT simulation for radiation oncology.
In 2023 and 2024, the hospital also was named among Healthgrades’ America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention Award recipients.
Saint Vincent is the second-largest hospital in Central Massachusetts, behind UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Saint Vincent has 290 licensed beds and about 1,600 employees, according to data provided to the WBJ Research Department.
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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