Tarrant County Hospital District officials on Tuesday announced that CEO Robert Earley will retire in March, 13 years after he took the helm permanently of the then-troubled publicly supported health network, also known as the JPS Health Network.
In a video message to the more than 7,200 employees at JPS, Earley praised his staff for the role they had in the progress made over the decade in improving the health of patients.
“About nine months ago, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The very next day, my mom fell down and broke her hip,” says Earley in the video, as told through a news statement released by the hospital. “I now need to give 100% to my parents. I want to be the son to them, as they were the parents to me.”
The JPS Board of Managers is expected to announce the start of a nationwide search for the next president and CEO. Incoming board president and community leader Dorothy DuBose said in a statement.
“It is with sadness in our hearts that we support Robert Earley in retiring as CEO,” Dubose says. “JPS has had a wonderful experience under his leadership, and we will miss our treasure.”
Earley, a former five-term state legislator in South Texas, first came to JPS as a consultant and later hired in 2005 as senior vice president of public affairs and advocacy. He replaced David Cecero in May 2008 on an interim basis after a series of public disclosures sent the health network into the turmoil.
In choosing Earley the board skipped over COO Ron Stutes, who had previously served as temporary CEO years earlier, and Gale Pileggi, the CFO.
Both had lost favor with the board, which had been shocked to learn through news reports about a damaging report by a Houston-based consultant that found incompetence and insensitivity for patients throughout the network. Furthermore, the report continued, the network's many of the network's facilities were unclean.
Moreover, the medical community, both inside and outside JPS, was critical, accusing the network of ignoring its mission of treating indigent patients. In fact, another report at the time disclosed that patient satisfaction at JPS was among the worst in the nation.
When he was appointed permanently, Earley vowed that patient satisfaction and public accountability would be his top priorities.
Though he had no previous executive hospital experience, Earley leaves as a nationally recognized leader in hospital administration.
The public hospital district has not only stabilized but flourished under his leadership and in position to grow further.
Under Earley, JPS Health Network has thrived as the county’s only Level I Trauma Center and Psychiatric Emergency Center and expanded and upgraded services including outpatient behavioral health offerings, telehealth, mobile street medicine, residency and fellowship programs that lead the nation. The list of local and national honors for the quality of care and service to the community is long.
JPS was named the Best Hospital for America by Washington Monthly magazine and the Lown Institute in 2020, and Outstanding Healthcare System by D CEO Magazine. JPS Health Network, a $1.3 billion publicly funded network, is governed by an 11-member Board of Managers, whose members are appointed by the Tarrant County Commissioners Court.
Earley was elected to the Texas State House at age 23. After retiring from public office, he joined the faculty of St. Edward’s in Austin, where he stayed for 12 years. He later taught at Texas A&M.
In addition to an undergraduate degree from the University of North Texas, Earley also earned a master’s in healthcare administration from UT Arlington.