It’s musical chairs time again at Erlanger.
Just over five months ago, physicians at our public hospital – the nation’s 10th largest public hospital system – became so fed up after three years of unanswered concerns about patient safety in Erlanger’s emergency department that they took the extreme action of making a “no confidence” vote on the hospital’s top management, specifically hospital CEO Kevin Spiegel and two of his aides.
On Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the Erlanger Health System board of trustees called a special meeting to briefly talk publicly about Spiegel’s leadership (but not vote on it), board Chairman Mike Griffin announced that Spiegel has left his post after six-and-a-half years.
Spiegel said Wednesday the decision for him to “separate” from Erlanger was mutual.
But that seems unlikely, given that it’s unclear if the board will pay Spiegel any severance, which could amount to as much as two years of salary or $1.93 million, according to a copy of his latest employment agreement.