St Clair Health announces successor to retiring CFO
St. Clair Health has announced Richard Chesnos will retire from his position of senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective April 1. Eric Luttringer will assume the role the following day.
Chesnos played a key role in the success of St. Clair since stepping into his current position in 2006. Upon inheriting a bond rating of A- and a small operating loss, he guided St. Clair’s finances to achieve the region’s highest bond rating (AA-), among other accomplishments.
“I saw an opportunity to reinvest back into the organization to better serve the community and everyone associated with St. Clair,” Chesnos said. To that end, he oversaw expansions that nearly doubled the institution’s square footage and modernized its facilities and equipment, both critical elements in making St. Clair a seven-time Watson Health 100 Top Hospital nationally.
Additionally, Chesnos has been an industry leader in hospital price transparency. St. Clair was the first hospital in the nation to introduce an online patient-friendly tool that takes the mystery out of healthcare costs.
The Patient Estimates Tool, lauded by consumer advocates such as PatientRightsAdvocate.Org, became available in early 2016, nearly five years before the ongoing federal effort to make hospitals disclose their pricing.
“Rick has been an exemplary steward of St. Clair’s finances for the past 15 years,” said James Collins, St. Clair Health president and chief executive officer. “His retirement is undeniably a loss for our organization, but we are fortunate that he built a very capable finance team, assisted for more than a decade by his successor.”
Luttringer, currently vice president of finance, will work with the St. Clair senior leadership team and board of directors to maintain the organization’s strong financial profile.
“I have the utmost confidence in Eric as he steps into this senior leadership role. In our more than 19 years of working together, he has exhibited the leadership and other skills necessary to effectively direct the financial operations at St. Clair,” Chesnos said. “Eric’s institutional knowledge and experience will enable him to enhance the organization’s position as a low-cost, high-quality healthcare provider in Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Luttringer holds a bachelor of science in business administration in accounting from Duquesne University and a master of business administration from Waynesburg University. He is a certified public accountant and is certified as a fellow by the Healthcare Financial Management Association.