Posted on May 18, 2004 at 10:48 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — David Fine, chief executive officer of the UAB Health System, has been named CEO of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in Houston.

UAB President Carol Garrison, who also chairs the UAB Health System Board, said that she has recommended to the board’s executive committee the appointment of David Hoidal, Health System chief operating officer, as interim CEO. She said the executive committee joined her in that recommendation, which will be taken to the board as a whole on Wednesday.

“The UAB Health System is in a very sound, competitive position,” Garrison said. “David Hoidal and the entire clinical and administrative leadership team combine to form a strong group that will continue to move our health system forward. Together with the health system board and the physician leadership at UAB, we will chart a course to identify long-term leadership of the health system.”

While a precise date for the change has not been finalized, Garrison said she expects “a quick transition. We wish David Fine the best. We are very grateful for his service, and with strong leaders here, we won’t miss a beat.”

Dr. Anton Bueschen, president of the Health Services Foundation, UAB’s faculty practice plan, said that “David Fine will be missed, but we are very fortunate that he recruited David Hoidal to Birmingham and subsequently appointed him as our chief operating officer (COO). David Hoidal has done an excellent job in this capacity; he is very effective and popular with the medical staff and he is well-prepared for this interim role.”

Hoidal joined UAB in 2000 as executive director of The Kirklin Clinic and president of the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital at UAB. In 2002 he was named chief operating officer for clinical programs for the health system. Prior to joining UAB, Hoidal served as senior vice president and COO of Tulane University Hospital and Clinic for three years. Before that he was CEO of HCA DePaul Hospital in New Orleans for eight years, and with HCA Peninsula Hospital in Hampton, Va., for eight years, serving as CEO for four.

Hoidal earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nebraska and his master’s degree in health administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

In the past five years, the UAB Health System has affiliated with UAB Medical West (formerly Bessemer Carraway), entered into a joint operating agreement with Children’s Health System of Alabama, and entered into a management services agreement with Baptist Health System in Montgomery. Also, UAB Hospital is nearing completion of a one-million-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that will enable UAB to continue its role as one of the nation’s premiere academic health centers. Additionally, The Kirklin Clinic has opened a satellite facility in the southern suburbs of Birmingham to provide patients in the area with more convenient and easier access to physicians.