Mission Hospital’s CEO Stepping Down

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Hospital top executive Peter Bastone is departing effective June 30.

Peter Bastone, the longtime president and chief executive of 552-bed Mission Hospital, which has campuses in Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach, will resign June 30 to pursue other opportunities, St. Joseph Health Systems announced Monday, April 11.

Bastone, 53, has been with Mission for 15 years, coming from Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood.

During his time at Mission, Bastone oversaw a $153 million expansion, including the construction of a 94,900-square-foot patient tower at the Mission Viejo campus, as well as the $36.5 million acquisition in 2009 of the former South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach.

Orange-based St. Joseph Health System will launch a national search for Bastone’s replacement and has not yet tapped an interim chief executive, said spokesman Kevin Andrus in Orange. “We will look thoughtfully and thoroughly for the right candidate,” he said, including considering internal candidates who seek the post.

Bastone was instrumental in advocating for investment in the Laguna Beach campus to ensure it reflected community and physician needs, said Andrus, adding that major investments are not left solely to the discretion of the chief executive but considered by the entire St. Joseph board.

Last month, Michael Beck, the hospital’s vice president of operations in Laguna Beach, mapped out a plan to extend the life of the facility another 20 years with a $30 million commitment to internal improvements over the next four years, including seismic upgrades required by 2015. Threatened by closure for years by its previous owner, Adventist Health, the facility that is one of the town’s largest employers with 300 people on its payroll has enjoyed relative stability for the last two years as Mission Hospital Laguna Beach.

Beck could not be immediately reached for comment about whether he will seek the chief executive’s post.

St. Joseph, a Catholic healthcare provider, also owns St. Joseph Hospital-Orange and Fullerton’s St. Jude Medical Center.

 

 

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