By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

The sale of Hillsboro Community Hospital has already brought two changes in its administration.

Bill May, vice president for operations of Rural Hospital Group, became interim CEO of Hillsboro Community Hospital Monday. Rural Hospital Group is the company that purchased HCH out of bankruptcy.

May said he hopes to find a permanent CEO soon.

“I hope to be able to name somebody in the next few weeks,” May said.

May said he works with CEOs of the company’s four owned and two managed hospitals.

Hospitals owned by Rural Hospital Group include HCH, Sumner Community Hospital in Wellington, and two hospitals in Marion, Kentucky, and Drumright, Oklahoma.

Stan Conover, who has been affiliated with HCH several years, has been named new chief nursing officer.

May said he’s confident HCH can grow and add services.

“Obviously, Hillsboro has a new hospital and a great facility,” May said. “The hospital looks good and it’s very functional.”

High on May’s list are physician recruitment and growing the surgical department.

He said he’d like to recruit the first of two new physicians within nine months.

He also plans to recruit a number of specialists to be at Hillsboro one to two times per month.

May said he gives a lot of credit to dedication on the part of hospital employees who stuck with the hospital during the bad times, and he’s been very impressed with them.

May has previous ties to Hillsboro Community Hospital and the company that used to own it. In 2011, when former hospital owners HMC/CAH declared bankruptcy, May was vice president of operations for the company. At that time, Trent Skaggs, now CEO of Rural Hospital Group, was HMC/CAH’s senior vice president of strategic planning and corporate compliance in 2011.