State hospital shuffles top leadership, again

Roughly six months before its goal of applying for federal certification of the Montana State Hospital, the state health department is again juggling turnover in key leadership positions at the state’s only public adult psychiatric facility.

The Warm Springs facility, a cornerstone of the state’s overall mental health system, has been a major challenge for the administration of Gov. Greg Gianforte. The facility lost federal certification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in 2022 following patient falls, deaths and insufficient Covid-19 protocols. 

Since then, the hospital has cycled through four different administrators. On Wednesday, a human resources employee from the Department of Public Health and Human Services notified staff at the Warm Springs campus that the hospital’s interim CEO, Jennifer Savage, was out of the job, according to a copy of the email shared with Montana Free Press. Her replacement will be the hospital’s fifth CEO in about two years.