(TNS) — A Penn Highlands Healthcare executive has been promoted at a challenging time for the diversified Clearfield County-based system.
Josh LaFleur is taking control of a region that includes troubled hospitals in Washington and Fayette counties as the DuBois-based system confronts widening losses from operations.
Mr. LaFleur was named Regional Market president — Southwest Region, which includes oversight of Penn Highlands Connellsville and Penn Highlands Mon Valley hospitals. Since 2023, he has served as vice president of operations at Penn Highlands Clearfield Hospital.
In the interim, he will be replaced by Will Chinn, president of Penn Highlands DuBois and Penn Highlands Clearfield, who will oversee operations at Penn Highlands Clearfield.
Before joining Penn Highlands, Mr. LaFleur, who received an MBA from Louisiana State University, held management positions at Ochsner Health, Baptist Campus in New Orleans. He began his health care career in radiology management at medical centers in Louisiana and Colorado.
In a two-notch bond rating downgrade for Penn Highlands in December, S&P Global Ratings said its negative outlook reflected the “outsized impact on the negative operating trend” spurred by the acquisitions of Mon Valley and Connellsville hospitals, as well as losses at the system’s State College micro hospital, which opened last year.
Penn Highlands acquired Mon Valley Hospital in 2021 and the Connellsville hospital a year later.
Penn Highlands reported a loss from operations of $19.3 million for the six months ending Dec. 31, an increase of $7.5 million from the $11.8 million loss a year ago, as the number of patient admissions, births and emergency room visits all fell sharply for the three months ending Dec. 31.
In its bond rating change, one of three Penn Highlands’ downgrades by rating agencies last year, S&P said it would consider a lower rating “if management fails to significantly improve 2025 operating performance or if unrestricted reserves were to decline any further.”
Penn Highlands was formed in 2011 and currently owns nine hospitals along with retail pharmacies, long-term care facilities, residential living communities, ambulance service and other assets. The health system employs some 6,200 people at more than 150 outpatient care and other locations in 26 counties.
