Redeemer Health CEO Michael Laign retiring after three decades

Greg Wozniak will succeed Michael Laign as CEO of Redeemer Health effective July 15, the nonprofit Catholic health system said Monday.

Laign, who is retiring, is the longest-serving health system CEO in the Philadelphia region, having started in that role in 1993.

“Mike has been a faithful and loyal friend and supporter of the Sisters of the Redeemer and our shared mission to care, comfort and heal,” said Sr. Ellen Marvel, province leader of the Sisters of the Redeemer.

Wozniak had been CEO of St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne from 1999 to 2015. Since then, Wozniak has been a consultant and advisor.

“Greg has the proven expertise, vision, talent, and passion to lead our mission-driven organization,” said Daniel Gallagher, president of the Redeemer Ministries board. The board oversees activities sponsored by the Sisters of the Redeemer, a Roman Catholic order that founded Redeemer Hospital in the 1950s.

While Laign led Redeemer, the health-care industry has undergone massive consolidation, led by Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Laign led a Redeemer effort in 2012 to merge with Abington Health, but that deal fell apart over a plan to end abortions at Abington. Three year’s later, Abington become Jefferson’s first acquisition in a series that continues with the currently pending deal for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Redeemer has struggled financially, posting operating losses every fiscal year since 2017. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded Redeemer by two notches, to BB- from BB+, citing the years of sizable operating losses that have eroded Redeemer’s financial reserves