photo by: LMH Health

LMH Health, 325 Maine St., is pictured in May 2021.

LMH Health’s top financial executive is leaving her position at the hospital at the beginning of next month.

Deb Cartwright, LMH Health’s chief financial officer, recently announced her resignation effective May 1. Cartwright first joined the hospital in December 2019 and is now leaving to accept a position at Kaiser Permanente’s Maui Memorial Medical Center in Hawaii.

LMH has already identified an interim CFO who has been working with Cartwright prior to her departure and will continue in the position until the hospital completes its CFO search. A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed Tuesday that Krys Claymore, the former CFO of Olathe Health, will serve in the interim role.

On Wednesday, LMH president and CEO Russ Johnson spoke briefly about Cartwright’s leadership during the LMH Health board of trustees’ monthly meeting, especially in regard to her navigating the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

“… Deb joined us in the fourth quarter of 2019, probably the most challenging — if you will, worst — financial year we’ve had in 10 years or more, and your expertise, your tenacity and your engagement were immediately felt,” Johnson said. “You then subsequently helped us navigate through probably three of the most difficult years health care has had in my 40-year career.”

While LMH wasn’t profitable during the pandemic, Johnson said it didn’t, under Cartwright’s stewardship, experience anything near the “catastrophe” other health care institutions faced. Now, Johnson said, the hospital’s in a much better position.

Johnson didn’t offer any further details Wednesday about how long the search for a permanent CFO may take.

LMH Health still has some recovery ahead from a financial standpoint. The hospital reported at its board meeting in January that it ended 2022 with a roughly $6 million budget deficit. At that time, Johnson attributed the budget burden to a mix of supply-chain, inflation and workforce struggles, plus a lag in federal support that helped buoy the hospital during the first two years of the pandemic. Cartwright told the hospital’s board in January that LMH could be granted some federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency this year, but didn’t mention a specific amount.