Robert Nelson

Senior healthcare executive and former Joint Commission reviewer with over 23 years of progressive leadership and management experience at the director level and above. A proven leader with hospital operations, nursing teams focus on employee engagement, patient experience, physician relationships, quality management, productivity enhancement and cost reductions thorough knowledge of Lean and shared governance. Financial expertise, accreditation/certification process expert, strategic planning, reengineering broken patient throughput with the ability to initiate positive change are key strengths.

Interim Consultant Chief Nursing Officer - Houlton Regional Hospital - Houlton, ME

(2025-12)

CNO consultant for a non-Proffit 25-bed critical access rural hospital

• Worked with new CNO to teach key concepts and formulate a strategic plan for nursing
• Worked with CNO to decrease LOS by 1 day over a 4-month period
• Taught the CNO about position control and scheduling which increased census by 6
• Taught CNOs and directors how to use Press Ganey fusion to direct efforts on key areas

Contract Chief Executive Officer - Quorum Health - Big Bend Regional Medical Center, Alpine, TX

(2024-09 - 2025-08)

CEO for a 25-bed critical access rural hospital

• Led hospital to exceed budget in 2024 and currently ahead of budget for 2025
• Led ED team to decrease LWBS to rate of less than 1%
• Led team to launch a rural joint replacement outpatient program in June 2025
• Led team to achieve patient experience score of 90th percentile in the Emergency Department
• Led hospital inpatient patient experience from 1st percentile to the 72nd percentile

Interim Contract Chief Executive and Chief Nursing Officer - Quorum Health and Dava Health Corporation - Alta Vista Hospital, Las Vegas, NM

(2023-07 - 2024-07)

CEO and CNO for a Joint Commission-accredited 51 bed hospital

• Led ED team to decrease LWOT rate 6% over a 5-month period to 1.6%
• Leading team to convert from a 51 bed acute care hospital to a 25 bed critical access hospital
• Led hospital team to overcome an average monthly loss of $1 million to 8 months of positive EBIDTA
• Led hospital inpatient patient experience scores to the 99th percentile for 5 consecutive months

Interim Chief Nursing/Chief Operating Officer - ScionHealth - Southwestern Medical Center, Lawton, OK

(2023-01 - 2023-06)

Chief nursing Officer for a Joint Commission-accredited 199 bed hospital

• Led perioperative department with a new director to increase inpatient, GI, and ASC growth
• Led all nursing units including behavioral health 20 bed adult and 26 bed child/adolescent unit
• Led ED team to decrease LWOT rate 10 percent over a 5-month period to 4.5%
• Co-led with quality VP to decrease falls from a high of 7 per month to 2 per month

Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President Patient Care - St. Dominic Hospital - Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System - Jackson, MS

(2019-07 - 2022-07)

Chief Nursing Executive for 571-bed tertiary medical center

• Led all nursing and patient care services team through five COVID-19 surges
• Leader of all service lines including cardiac, perioperative, cancer center and neuroscience
• Served as patient experience officer for Jackson, MS market
• Led team to increased hospital patient satisfaction scores from the 29th percentile to the 75th percentile
• Led ED team to gain and sustain a 15-point percentage increase in patient experience
• Led hospital-based outpatient surgeries to 30% growth by increasing robotic surgery capability
• Led all nursing and service lines conversion from Cerner to Epic and Lawson to Oracle

Chief Nursing Officer/Vice President Patient Care - Norwegian American Hospital/Humboldt Park Health - Chicago, IL

(2017 - 2019)

Chief nursing executive for a 210-bed community safety net hospital in Chicago, IL Cook County

• Reduced RN agency and travel nursing staff by 80% in less than one year
• Served as interim perioperative director for 6 ORs, SPD, and GI lab as well as CNO duties
• Led team to Increased Orthopedic surgical volume by 100% at a community safety net hospital

Vice President Orthopedics and Neurosciences East Florida Division - HCA Holdings, Hospital Corporation of America - Fort Lauderdale, FL

(2009 - 2017)

Health system service-line Vice President for 14 acute care for-profit hospitals with 3,394 licensed beds, 168,000 annual admissions, and 800,000 annual emergency department visits

• Completed market and business analysis to develop and implement 7 orthopedic total joint replacement programs and assist development and launch of two level 2 trauma programs
• Led teams to create and launch Joint Commission certified total hip and total knee programs at 6 hospitals
• Attained and maintained 12 Joint Commission certified stroke programs and attained Joint Commission certification for orthopedics for 6 Hospitals
• Conduct regular Joint Commission mock surveys of neuroscience and orthopedic programs to ensure constant readiness for Joint Commission surveys

Stroke Program Disease Specific Reviewer-Intermittent - The Joint Commission - Oakbrook Terrace, IL

(2007 - 2013)

Primary stroke center reviewer for disease specific certification

• Performed Joint Commission primary stroke center reviews at hospitals across the United States
• Served as a trainer/preceptor for new stroke reviewers to ensure new Joint Commission stroke reviewers understood how to conduct a survey of a stroke program
• Trained annually to show competency in initial and re-certification reviews for primary stroke centers
• Completed the Joint Commission initial and ongoing training for disease specific investigators

Corporal/E-4 - United States Marine Corps - Camp Lejeune, NC

(1988 - 1992)

Master of Business Administration - Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business University of Pittsburgh (2001)

Master of Health Administration - University of Pittsburgh (2001)

Bachelor of Science - Nursing - Pennsylvania State University (1998)