by David Corrigan

HILO, Hawaii – Howard Ainsley, the East Hawaii Region Chief Executive Officer for the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, is stepping down.

The East Hawaii Regional Board of Directors announced today that Ainsley submitted his resignation effective August 9, 2014. Ainsley is headed to the mainland.

Mr. Ainsley will join the Novant Health System in North Carolina, as CEO of its newest affiliated facility, Morehead Memorial Hospital. Novant Health System is a private not-for-profit healthcare system with $5.8 billion in operating revenue with a four-state footprint in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. It owns or operates a total of 28 medical centers and 158 ambulatory centers, and has over 5,000 physician partners as members of its medical staff, including 1,200 Novant Health Medical Group physicians at 350 locations.Hawaii Health Systems Corporation in a media release

“We are thankful for having had Howard’s leadership over the past five years as we went through our transformation to becoming a more quality driven organization,” said Gary Yoshiyama, East Hawaii Regional Board chairman, in a media release. “We wish Howard the very best as he enters the next stage of his career.”

The media release also offered a sizeable quote from Ainsley:

Over the past 5 years, I’ve had the honor of working with the exceptional people as we became the first HHSC affiliated organization to implement an electronic medical record and develop a Family Residency Program; we’ve made significant improvements in our clinical quality and core measures, and introduced state-of-the-art technological advances to our hospitals. We are becoming a more patient centered organization intent on improving the quality of care for our island’s residents and have much to celebrate! It has been my pleasure serving the East Hawaii Community through this period of growth, and I leave the organization in the care of a dedicated, hard working, and gifted team of Board members, executives, and managers. I know they will continue to push the region toward becoming a top-notch hospital in Hawaii, and wish them the very best.”Howard Ainsley in a media release

Ainsley leaves in the midst of troubling times for HHSC, a public entity established in 1996 by the State of Hawaii to fulfill the promise to provide quality, hometown healthcare. Hilo Medical Center recently cut positions and cancelled improvement plans in order to reduce a $9 million budget shortfall. The future outlook for system was also dealt a blow when the legislature failed to pass a bill that would have allowed HHSC to pursue a public-private partnership in order to remain solvent.

“The East Hawaii Region will continue to focus on its vision of becoming a health care system that provides patient centered, culturally competent, cost effective care with exceptional outcomes and superior patient satisfaction,” Mr. Yoshiyama assured in the media release. “Our Board has also reaffirmed its commitment to its strategic plan and will move forward with it as its guiding document.”

HHSC’s East Hawaii Region oversees Hilo Medical Center, Hale Ho’ola Hamakua, Ka’u Hospital, and Yukio Okutsu Veterans Home.