CROSBY-Following an extensive search from across a five-state region, Cuyuna Regional Medical Center's Board of Directors selected Kyle Bauer as CEO to lead a staff of 950 and manage a budget of $115 million.
Bauer has been serving as CRMC's Interim CEO the last six months in addition to his chief financial officer position, which he has been in for the last 12 years.
"Kyle is uniquely qualified to lead CRMC, bringing a wealth of health care finance and operations experience from different settings as CRMC moves to achieve the triple aim of increasing quality, lowering costs and improving the patient experience," said Richard Schiller, CRMC board chair in a news release.
In addition to CRMC, Bauer has worked for Catholic Healthcare West in Phoenix, as well as Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Originally from Valley City, a rural community in eastern North Dakota, he and his wife, Laura, have three children.
"I am honored and proud to serve the patients of the Cuyuna and Brainerd Lakes region and to be part of CRMC's long standing history of providing high quality health care," Bauer said in a news release. "I look forward to continuing to be part of this great, independent healthcare system that remains a model for what can be accomplished in rural health care."
ADVERTISEMENT
An independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Crosby, CRMC has 40 physicians and specialists, 60 health care providers, and 60 volunteers. The medical center includes a 25-bed critical access hospital with a state-of-the-art surgery center; three outpatient clinics located in Crosby, Baxter, and Longville; a care center; and a senior living community offering independent, assisted and memory care services.
Former CEO John Solheim announced his resignation in July 2016. Solheim's exit came as the hospital transitioned from a public hospital district to a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which the board approved May 16, 2016. Solheim's announcement he was resigning came as a surprise and was not on the meeting agenda as the news came after the packet was put together. Solheim's resignation was effective Oct. 14, 2016. Solheim joined Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in June of 2012. Prior to Solheim's arrival, longtime CEO Tom Reek was at the helm. Reek retired in 2011 after 37 years on the job as he approached age 65.
In 1974, when Reek joined CRMC, it had about 125 employees and about a $2 million annual budget. By 2011, the hospital system had 850 employees and a $130 million annual budget. Back in 1974, the clinic had five doctors. In 2011, the medical campus had more than 40 physicians and specialists who came to the medical center on a regular basis to treat patients.
