Mission CEO exits to heal rift with doctors.

• Position: Western

Running a hospital is a balancing act: Doctors and other medical professionals try to keep patients healthy, while administrators must monitor the hospital's vital signs. Asheville-based Mission Hospital and Health System is trying to regain its equilibrium as the five-year tenure of CEO Joe Damore comes to a close.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

His resignation, effective Jan. 31, came after months of rising anger among staff physicians and those who send patients to Mission Hospital. Many accused him of heavy-handed management. Damore declined comment through a hospital spokeswoman, but doctors haven't been shy about airing their views. In August, about 150 signed a letter to the hospital board complaining of "control and domination" and bullying by administrators. "That led to some obvious conflicts that created a lot of stress and tension that sometimes got out of hand," says Alan Baumgarten, chief of the hospital's medical staff and a family physician at Asheville Family Health Center.

Doctors were disappointed when Mission Health System failed to strike a management agreement with MedWest Health System, a joint operating company for WestCare Health Corp., based in Sylva, and financially troubled Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde ("How a Hospital Had to Heal Itself," March 2009). Instead of aligning with Mission, MedWest agreed to be managed by Charlotte-based Carolinas Healthcare System. Doctors say that gives Carolinas a competitive toehold on the health system's turf and could mean MedWest patients who need advanced care are sent to Charlotte...