The Memorial Healthcare System board unanimously voted to terminate its contract with CEO Scott Wester, effective on Wednesday.
The board hired Wester as chief executive in July 2022 under a three-year contract to run the healthcare system, which has more than 17,000 employees and includes six South Broward hospitals and a new free-standing cancer center. On Wednesday evening, the board ended its contract with Wester a year early.
“When we hired him, we felt like he was going to help us with strategy and the future of Memorial,” board chairwoman Elizabeth Justen said. “Unfortunately, after two years, he presented a strategic plan that was not good, so we expressed to him it was not what we were hoping for. We gave him a review and were disappointed in him, and he knew it.”
Memorial Healthcare System is taxpayer-funded and includes Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Memorial Regional Hospital South in Hollywood, Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, Memorial Hospital Miramar, Memorial Hospital Pembroke, and numerous ancillary facilities, including a nursing home and urgent care centers.
Justen said the board and Wester were not on the same page about how to move the large and growing hospital system into the future. “He didn’t have a vision. When we asked him what his vision was, he couldn’t articulate anything,” she said. Wester had relocated to Broward County from Louisiana. Board members said Wester had good values and a grasp of healthcare, but he struggled to adapt to the diverse and fast-moving pace of the South Florida area.
“He was just not a proper fit,” Justen said.
Wester said he learned of the board’s dissatisfaction on Monday night and gave them his resignation Wednesday night. Wester earned an annual salary of $1.47 million, and he will receive his salary for the remaining year on his contract.
“Memorial Health System is an incredible organization and has done so much to help the people of South Broward and all of South Florida,” Wester said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the leadership teams and all we have accomplished together. I am a deep believer in Memorial and will always offer my best to help the organization as much as I can.”
Wester said he wants to stay in the healthcare field, unsure of his next move. “It’s time to reassess, recharge. Where the path leads me, I am not sure. Leadership is knowing when it is time to take another path.”
David Smith, who serves as chief administrative officer and chief financial officer, will take on the role of interim CEO. Justen said the board will meet to discuss a strategy for finding a new CEO.
Board members told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that their mission is to ensure good healthcare for the people of Broward County and clarified that despite executive changes, the health system is well-positioned to serve anyone who needs care.
“We are financially strong and in a good position as a system to fill the needs of the community,” said Laura Raybin Miller, a 25-year member of Memorial’s board. “There are 400 leaders in our hospitals so it has never been about one person. I don’t expect we will miss a beat.”
“The last two years have been about delivering care in a more cost-effective manner,” Raybin Miller said. “Going forward I think we need to focus on the primary care access for the community.”
Raybin Miller said she also would like to return to looking for opportunities for Broward Health (known as the North Broward Hospital District) and Memorial (known as the South Broward Hospital District) to work together. The boards of the two systems met just as Wester came on board, but those meetings have since stopped.
“I am open to exploring mutual synergies and initiatives,” she said.
South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.
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