[05/23/01] Alan Daugherty resigned Tuesday as chief executive officer of River Region Health System, leaving vacant the top position in Warren County health care.

No replacement has been named.

River Region spokesman Debbie Brumitt said Daugherty, CEO since 1998, is leaving his post entirely because of personal concerns.

He will remain at River Region until a successor is named, Brumitt said. Daugherty declined comment.

The change is not connected to the October buyout of Quorum, River Region’s former parent company, by Dallas-based Triad Hospitals, Inc., said Triad spokesman Pat Ball.

“We certainly did not anticipate replacing any of our CEOs when we bought Quorum,” Ball said.

Quorum bought Mercy Regional Medical Center the first hospital the company owned in 1990 from Mercy Health Systems Inc. Quorum changed Mercy’s name to ParkView Regional Medical Center and began a decade of combining local health services, sometimes resulting in litigation.

ParkView merged with The Street Clinic and Family Medical Clinic in 1994, forming River Region Medical Corporation. The physician-owners of the Vicksburg Clinic merged with River Region in 1997, and the company took over Vicksburg Medical Center, including the Vicksburg Hospital, in 1998.

Daugherty has worked in River Region’s executive offices since September 1996, when he was hired as chief financial officer. He was named chief operating officer in October 1998 and succeeded former CEO Harry Alvis when Alvis resigned in May 1999.

During Daugherty’s tenure at River Region, the company bought land off U.S. 61 North on which to build a $112 million hospital complex.

Daugherty presided over the initial stages of the new hospital’s construction. It is slated for occupancy in February.

Brumitt, River Region’s director of marketing and public relations, said Daugherty was excited about the new facility’s potential to better meet Warren County’s health care needs.

“He was always saying, What is this going to mean to the community?’ He was a true visionary,” she said.

There was no word on when Triad might name a new CEO for its holdings in Vicksburg.