Hospital CEO meets with local leaders

By FRITZ MAYER

ROCK HILL, NY — Steven Ruwoldt, the new CEO of Sullivan County’s only hospital, rubbed elbows with community leaders at a get-together at Bernie’s Holiday Restaurant on September 10. About 40 politicians and business people turned out to the cocktail and hors d’oeuvres event.

Ruwoldt told The River Reporter that after six weeks on the job at Catskill Regional Medical Center (CRMC), he was enthusiastic about the future of the hospital. He said that doctors from Crystal Run Healthcare in Rock Hill had begun to return to the hospital in phases, and that cooperation between the two institutions was moving forward, and, in his view, would continue far into the future.

About 65 doctors from Crystal Run severed their relationships with the hospital in a much-publicized dispute between Dr. Hal Tietlebaum, the managing partner of Crystal Run, and CRMC’s CEO Arthur Brien, amid charges of substandard medical practices at the hospital. Brien resigned in September 2006.

According to the online publication Hospital Newspaper, before joining CRMC, Ruwoldt served as president of Lutheran Hospital, in Cleveland, OH, where he was responsible for overall operations. According to the article, “Ruwoldt has a long history of healthcare leadership positions and accomplishments. While he was at Lutheran, the hospital was selected as one of the ‘Best Places to Work’ in Northeast Ohio for three straight years. During his tenure, he helped improve a budgeted $2.3 million loss in 2000 to $1 million plus profit each year since 2002.”