By Craig Boerner
Travis Capers has been named to the newly created role of President of Vanderbilt Regional Community Hospitals, effective Aug. 15, following a nationwide search to fill the position.
As President, Capers will oversee performance and continued growth of the community-based hospitals within Vanderbilt Health.
Capers will report to C. Wright Pinson, MD, MBA, Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in the new role.
“Travis has the skills, drive and experience to take on this responsibility,” Pinson said.
“We are all very excited and are confident he will be a great fit within our Medical Center’s leadership team as we continue to improve and meet goals in the People, Quality, Service, Finance, Growth, and Innovation dimensions.”
Capers is currently president of SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, a 500-bed hospital in St. Louis, where he has led the hospital from a CMS two-star to four-star designation during his six-year tenure. Prior to that, he was CEO of Ochsner Medical Center West Bank Region from 2011-2016.
In Nashville, he was COO of HCA TriStar Division Southern Hills Medical Center from 2003-2011.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of South Carolina. He also completed the Harvard Business Executive Managing Healthcare Delivery Program in 2015 and is a fellow of American College of Healthcare Executives.
“Vanderbilt Health is a world-renowned academic health system delivering exceptional care to patients and improving the future of health care,” Capers said. “I am excited and humbled to be joining the team as we enhance the health of the communities we’re so blessed to serve.”
The regional community hospitals Capers will initially oversee include:
- Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital in Shelbyville, Tennessee
- Vanderbilt Tullahoma Harton Hospital in Tullahoma, Tennessee
- Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital in Lebanon, Tennessee
- And he will represent VUMC’s interest in a joint venture Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville in Clarksville, Tennessee. VUMC has a 20% minority ownership, and Community Health Systems owns 80%.
The community hospitals collectively represent a total of 710 licensed beds, 270 of which are part of the Tennova-Clarksville joint venture. Annual patient discharges for the community hospitals are approximately 20,000, and annual outpatient visits are approximately 140,000.
“I am thrilled that Travis Capers will be joining VUMC as President of our Regional Community Hospitals. Travis has an impressive record of working successfully both within and outside an academic health system,” said Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, Chief Medical Officer, VUMC. “All of us on the search committee were impressed with his professionalism and style of engaged, transparent leadership. I am confident that he will be a wonderful asset to our health system’s regional growth strategy.”
The community hospitals are a way to extend VUMC’s world-renowned academic medical center resources into surrounding areas.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Travis to the executive leadership for our Regional Hospitals. His experience will be instrumental in the strategic efforts for VUMC, and I look forward to working with him and our regional hospital teams,” said Marilyn Dubree, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Executive Chief Nursing Officer of VUMC.