LifePoint Names Leif Murphy Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer

Hospital operator seeks additional growth, adds seasoned executive to oversee hospital development and pursuit of new partnerships

BRENTWOOD, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- LifePoint Hospitals (NASDAQ: LPNT), a leading hospital company focused on providing quality healthcare services close to home, today announced that Leif Murphy has been named executive vice president and chief development officer, effective early November.

Leif Murphy, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer, LifePoint Hospitals (Photo: Business Wire)

In this new role, Murphy will oversee LifePoint’s ongoing growth and development strategy, including pursuing acquisitions and innovative partnerships intended to increase acquisition opportunities, enhance the quality of care provided at acquired hospitals and better align the company’s hospitals for the future of healthcare. Additionally, he will manage in-market expansion efforts at LifePoint’s existing hospitals, seeking ways to increase and enhance the services offered at each facility.

“Leif brings a unique combination of healthcare, business development and finance expertise to LifePoint and is a great addition to our executive leadership team. Adding an executive with Leif’s background further reflects the importance of our existing strategy to grow through acquisitions and work with other leading healthcare systems to enhance the quality of care provided at our hospitals,” said William F. Carpenter III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LifePoint Hospitals. “Our development professionals have achieved significant benchmarks over the past three years including the creation of Duke LifePoint Healthcare, a unique joint venture partnership with Duke University Health System, and the acquisition of seven hospitals with trailing twelve month net revenue of approximately $400 million. We look forward to working with Leif to continue to advance these efforts and help us achieve our mission of making communities healthier.”

Murphy brings nearly 20 years of healthcare finance and development experience to LifePoint. He joins the company from DSI Renal, Inc., where he served as president and CEO. Prior to DSI, Murphy was senior vice president and treasurer at Caremark, Inc. He also has held leadership roles at Renal Care Group, Inc., National Nephrology Associates, Inc. and HealthSouth Corporation. He received a BA in Business Administration from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and his Master of Business Administration from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

About LifePoint Hospitals

LifePoint Hospitals^® is a leading hospital company focused on providing quality healthcare services close to home. Through its subsidiaries, LifePoint operates 53 hospital campuses in 18 states. With a mission of “Making Communities Healthier^®,” LifePoint is the sole community hospital provider in the majority of the communities it serves. More information about the Company, which is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, can be found on its website, www.LifePointHospitals.com. All references to “LifePoint,” "LifePoint Hospitals," or the “Company” used in this release refer to LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. or its affiliates.

Important Legal Information.Certain statements contained in this release are based on current management expectations and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor protections from liability provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.Numerous factors exist which may cause results to differ from these expectations.Many of the factors that will determine LifePoint’s future results are beyond LifePoint’s ability to control or predict with accuracy.Such forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations and beliefs of the management of LifePoint, are not guarantees of performance and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those described in the forward-looking statements.These forward-looking statements may also be subject to other risk factors and uncertainties, including without limitation: (i) the effect and implementation of healthcare reform legislation and other changes in government programs including efforts to reduce healthcare expenditures; (ii) reductions in Medicare or Medicaid payments, whether driven by budget deficits, programmatic changes or otherwise; (iii) reductions in revenues from commercial payors, whether as a change in our revenue mix, reduction in commercial rates or otherwise;(iv) LifePoint’s ability to acquire hospitals on favorable terms, the business risks associated with acquiring additional hospitals and the uncertainty in operating and integrating such hospitals;(v) the ongoing, adverse effects from the recent economic recession including high rates of unemployment, which could intensify if credit conditions deteriorate; (vi) the failure of certain employers, or the closure of certain manufacturing and other facilities, especially in markets where LifePoint’s hospitals depend on a small number of local employers; (vii) the growth of uninsured and “patient due” accounts, and deterioration in the collectability of these accounts;(viii) whether our core strategies will result in anticipated operating results; (ix) whether our efforts to reduce the cost of providing healthcare while increasing the quality of care are successful; (x) the ability to attract, recruit and retain qualified physicians, nurses, medical technicians and other healthcare professionals; (xi) the loss of certain physicians in markets where such a loss can have a disproportionate impact on LifePoint’s hospitals; (xii) the increasingly stringent and complex legal and regulatory environment (and changing interpretations of applicable laws and regulations), increased legal and regulatory obligations and related enforcement activity, new obligations that providers must self-disclose violations, and the additional costs incurred in connection with efforts to comply with such laws and regulations; (xiii) competition from other hospitals and outpatient facilities providing services similar to those LifePoint offers and from physicians providing services in their offices that could be provided in LifePoint’s hospitals; (xiv) adverse events in states a large portion of LifePoint’s revenues are concentrated; (xv) any interruption of or restriction in LifePoint’s access to licensed information (and information technology systems) or failure in LifePoint’s ability to integrate changes to LifePoint’s existing information systems or information systems of acquired hospitals; (xvi) liabilities resulting from potential malpractice and related legal claims brought against LifePoint’s hospitals; and (xvii) those other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in LifePoint’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Therefore, LifePoint’s future results may differ materially from those described in this release.LifePoint undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

All references to “LifePoint,” “LifePoint Hospitals” and the “Company” as used throughout this release refer to LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

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LifePoint HospitalsDiane Huggins, 615-565-1817
[email protected]

Source: LifePoint Hospitals