New CEO named at Hot Springs Health to take over July 1

Hot Springs Health CEO Margie Molitor passes the torch to the new CEO Scott Alwin starting July 1. Molitor has served in her position for the past six years and has said about her experience, "It's been amazing. I mean, my experience here at Hot Springs Health has been extraordinarily positive." Molitor sums up what she is most proud of in two words, "growth and culture."

At the beginning of her tenure, Molitor met an immediate challenge. She explained, "A lot of things have changed since I came when I started in June, I quickly was informed that we had a very critical election coming up that November in which we were asking the voters of Hot Springs County to not only approve the establishment of a hospital district, but also the special purpose tax to help us with the $16.4 million for our construction project. And that, to me, sounded like a very daunting task. And there was such an outpouring of community support. The Yes For Our Hospital group and just the community, in general, were so interested in preserving health care in Hot Springs County that's what made it all go."

Molitor added, "I'm brand new, and all of a sudden I have to say, 'Hey, folks, our hospitals are in jeopardy. So we need your help so that we can keep a full-service hospital in Hot Springs County.' And once they understood exactly what the project was and everything, they passed by a two-thirds majority, which, having two taxes passed in the same election in Wyoming, that's quite a feat."

Molitor mentioned other accomplishments such as doubling the revenue of the hospital and her work with the Rural Track Training program, which helps recruit providers and attract them to Hot Springs County. Molitor also highlights the success of her staff, who have shown flexibility and the ability to handle change.

Molitor then discussed how the Hot Springs Health board selected Scott Alwin as the new CEO. Alwin was originally hired in December 2021 as the new Chief Clinical Officer (CCO). Molitor, at the time, had not announced that she planned to retire. Later, she did inform the board and with the assistance of Health Tech, they started looking for a new CEO. The board and Health Tech started off with about 30 candidates that were narrowed down to eight and then narrowed further to two candidates where Alwin was still included, as he had applied as well. In the end, the board selected Alwin. Molitor said that the way things unfolded allows a smooth transition. 

During Alwin's time as the CCO, he observed how Hot Springs Health operated, and he interacted with the staff. He explained that during the interviews, he has seen here at Hot Springs Health people doing "a lot of hard work." Not only that, Alwin said the hard work has been strategic to set a foundation and an infrastructure for great things. Alwin added, "I'm speaking about our new facility, the Rural Track Training program, where we're bringing residents and potential future physicians into our community and into our organization. We have also established a lot of great cultural expectations in relation to some of the things that Margie was just describing, such as Oasis and some of those values that are already established."

Alwin continued and said, "What I envision happening now is really narrowing down and fine-tuning a lot of our processes and getting into the details. And making sure that we have, what I like to call, is an 'always culture', meaning every time a patient arrives, they have an amazing experience, and it happens every time to every patient."

This vision includes Alwin's focus on quality which Alwin said includes, "quality indicators and the quality of care that we provide, making sure that our processes and our checks and balances are conducted every time with every patient and every employee so that we can be we can stand out in our region as being the medical provider and the employer of choice, the place to come for health care in the future."

Alwin also recognizes the challenges Hot Springs Health faces. He said, "some of the challenges that we're facing now and for a while will continue to be a staffing shortage. We're still dealing with difficulties in identifying and recruiting permanent clinical professional staff members who can come in and not just nursing staff, but laboratory diagnostic imaging pharmacy techs. It's across the entire organization."

Alwin added, "But then I think even beyond that, I think that we've got to know, we're going to have challenges with making sure that we are maintaining an environment that retains that staff and those team members so that they are not drawn to other locations for work."

Alwin went on to describe how in the "post COVID endemic," he wants to "make sure that we're not maintaining some kind of status quo, but that we're really moving forward again."

Alwin concluded and said, "I am very, very excited about this opportunity. Since moving to my place, I truly have felt that this is the right fit. I have felt very welcomed in the community, very welcomed here in the hospital and I'm just very excited about being able to work shoulder to shoulder with the providers and the staff and as well as all the community to provide great health care."