O’Leary Will Head Nationwide Hospital Network : St. Joseph Health President to Quit

Robert W. O’Leary will resign as chief executive of the St. Joseph Health System in Orange to become president and chief executive of Voluntary Hospitals of America Inc., a Dallas organization that provides services to a nationwide network of hospitals, officials said Tuesday.

O’Leary, 45, has served as president and chief executive at St. Joseph Health System since 1983. The health-care organization, owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, operates eight hospitals in California and Texas as well as Health Plan of America, a statewide health-care company composed of 60 hospitals and 7,000 physicians.

O’Leary’s selection was made early last week by VHA’s board of directors. As of Tuesday, St. Joseph had not named his replacement. VHA spokesman Mack Haning said O’Leary’s new appointment will become effective in mid-September.

Formed in 1977, VHA is a for-profit company owned by 100 of its 669 member hospitals. VHA’s members in Southern California include Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Saddleback Hospital and Health Center in Laguna Hills and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Haning said the organization has undergone a major restructuring since September when its senior management resigned. He said the company had grown unwieldy from rapid expansion and one of its major for-profit subsidiaries, VHA Enterprises, was losing money.

VHA Enterprises is developing a national health-care provider system in a venture with the Aetna Life Insurance Co. and will benefit from O’Leary’s experience at developing a health-maintenance organization for St. Joseph of Orange, Haning said.

O’Leary also will be in charge of managing the highly profitable VHA Supply Inc., which sells more than $2 billion in discounted products a year to member hospitals.