NEW CEO-On hand for the signing of Korth’s (center) contract were hospital board members David Hatcher, Marilyn Gray, chairman Paul Swallows, Dr. Jason Nolan and Dr. Sullivan Smith, president of the CRMC medical staff. (photo submitted)

COOKEVILLE-Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously late last month to name Paul Korth, a 24-year veteran health care leader and administrator from Clay County, the hospital’s chief executive officer.

Korth came to Cookeville Regional almost 14 years ago as the chief financial officer. He has had many significant milestones in his career including successfully managing the financial aspects of operating the 247-bed Cookeville Regional while also having responsibility for a large number of hospital departments and services. For the past four months Korth has served as the medical center’s interim CEO in addition to continuing his responsibilities as CFO.

“Paul has done an excellent job as interim CEO,” said Paul Swallows, chairman of the CRMC Board of Trustees.  “We are fortunate to have someone with Paul’s expertise and experience to step into the CEO position. He has been an integral part of the hospital’s success as it has grown into a regional hospital, and I have no doubt that he will lead the hospital in the direction of continued growth and success.”

Before coming to Cookeville in 1999, he spent eight years as the chief financial officer at Livingston Regional Hospital and four years in that position at Clay County Hospital.

“I am honored to be named CEO of Cookeville Regional. We have a top-notch regional medical center with a committed and dedicated group of physicians, board of trustees as well as a compassionate hospital staff,” said Korth. “We will continue to provide the high quality care that we are known for.

“I appreciate the board’s confidence in me and I look forward to working with the board of trustees, medical staff, hospital staff and community as we expand and grow our services,” continued Korth. “We have challenges ahead as we face changes in health care on both the national and state levels, but I have no doubt that we will continue to expand upon our success as a regional referral center for our region.”

Korth and his wife Janice have two children–daughter Macey and son Wes along with daughter-in-law Katie.  He is the son of Celina residents Dudley and Leslie Korth.

About CRMC
Cookeville Regional Medical Center is a 247-bed regional referral center serving more than 300,000 residents in the Upper Cumberland region of middle Tennessee.  With over 200 physicians in 40 different medical and surgical specialties, Cookeville Regional offers patients here the same kind of care that they could expect in a larger metropolitan area including specialty care such as cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac and thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, pulmonology, cancer treatment, orthopedics, physical rehabilitation and neurosurgery. Cookeville Regional now houses a 32-bed behavioral health hospital operated by Ten Broeck Tennessee.

In addition to a new 228,000 square-foot patient tower, the medical center has completed expansions of its emergency department to include 37 beds and its surgery department to include 16 state-of-the-art OR suites. Cookeville Regional has received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence from Healthgrades in 2013, placing it among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation. The medical center has also been named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for its cardiac, orthopedic and spine surgery programs and ranked number one in Tennessee for Overall Cardiac Services, Cardiology Services, Coronary Intervention, Overall Orthopedic Services and Joint Replacement.  Serving the area since 1950, Cookeville Regional has grown to be the region’s health care provider of choice and is the flagship hospital for the Cookeville Regional Health System that also includes Cumberland River Hospital and Cookeville Regional Medical Group.