Independence Health announces 4 members of leadership team

Independence Health System officially has a new leadership team, composed of four longtime department heads from the system’s component parts of Butler Health System and Excela Health.

On Thursday, Independence introduced Dr. Carol Fox as chief medical officer; Dr. David Rottinghaus as president of Physician and Provider Network; Karen Allen as president of Butler Memorial and Clarion hospitals; and Brian Fritz as president of Frick, Latrobe and Westmoreland hospitals.

Formed by the merger of Butler Health System and Westmoreland-based Excela Health in January, Independence operates five hospitals: Butler, Clarion, Frick, Latrobe and Westmoreland. It hosts more than 1,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and employs 7,300 employees.

The system has faced financial struggles over its past seven months of existence and has eliminated a total of 226 positions. Independence reported combined losses of more than $62 million over the nine-month period ending March 31, according to disclosure reports.

The leadership team has been working in their new roles for the past several months, and the system will officially announce more members of the team in the coming weeks, according to Independence spokesperson Robin Jennings.

The team is separate from the Independence volunteer board of directors. The executive team is comprised of employees of the health system.

The four members of the team report to Independence President and CEO Ken DeFurio.

In the driver’s seat

Fox has served in executive medical leadership roles for Excela since 2005. She joined the system in 1990 as a practicing primary care physician.

Fox helped to create hospital and systemwide physician advisory councils during her tenure as both chief medical officer and executive medical director of the employed physicians’ medical group at Excela. She and her family live in Unity.

Fritz, who will be in charge of Westmoreland, Latrobe and Frick hospitals, started his career at Excela Health in 2007. In 2014, he joined Pinnacle Health System, now known as UPMC Central Pa., in Harrisburg, serving as the senior director of business operations. In 2020, Fritz returned to Excela Health as the system vice president of surgical services. He and his family live in Unity.

Rottinghaus, who will preside over Independence’s network of doctors and other providers as president of the Physician and Provider Network, started his career with an emergency medicine residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh in 2001. He worked there as an attending physician in emergency medicine until 2010, when he joined Butler Emergency Physicians Associates in the emergency department at Butler Memorial Hospital.

Since 2014, he has held numerous leadership roles at Butler Health System, including executive director of emergency services, chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs. In 2021, he assumed the role of president of Butler Medical Providers. He also continues to practice emergency medicine at Butler. He and his family live in the Pine-Richland area of Allegheny County.

Allen, who will manage Butler Memorial and Clarion hospitals, came to Butler Health System from UPMC Shadyside in 2004. She served as director of surgical services, assistant vice president of patient care services, vice president of critical care/ancillary services, chief nursing officer and chief experience officer before taking on the role of president of Butler Memorial and Clarion Hospitals. Allen and her family live in Mars, Butler County.