Montana State Hospital CEO resigns for undisclosed reasons

The CEO of the state’s only public psychiatric hospital is stepping down after roughly a year on the job, according to a Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services press release sent late Friday afternoon.

Dr. Kevin Flanigan assumed the role at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs last summer. The department’s release said Flanigan was resigning, but did not cite a reason for the leadership change. Flanigan did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

One of the hospital’s former staff psychiatrists, Dr. Daniel Bemporad, will assume the CEO position in an interim capacity, the department said Friday. Bemporad left his position on the hospital’s forensic unit in 2024 amid previous leadership turmoil, but has continued as a contractor for the state focused on reducing the backlog for patient evaluations from local jails and detention facilities.

The turnover continues a pattern of leadership instability since the 270-bed campus lost certification from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2022 because of patient deaths and injuries. Bemporad constitutes the hospital’s sixth leader since the certification loss.

Current and former MSH employees reached by MTFP indicated they had learned of the change in leadership through the public announcement. 

In response to a list of questions Friday evening, a spokesperson for the department, Holly Matkin, told MTFP that the agency would begin a search for a permanent CEO “in the very near future,” and said that Bemporad would hold the interim position “pending the results of a competitive recruitment.”. 

In the Friday release, DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton credited Flanigan with having “transformed the hospital’s culture” after the tenure of previous administrator Jennifer Savage, who was heavily criticized by many of the facility’s top medical staffers. Brereton also said Flanigan had helped the hospital get closer to applying for recertification from federal authorities, but did not spell out the department’s current timeline for that goal. In the hospital’s current landscape, Brereton said, Bemporad would be able to “seamlessly carry the ball forward.”

“I welcome Dan back to DPHHS as an employee and believe he is the right psychiatric leader for MSH at this crucial time,” Brereton said. 

In a written comment included in the announcement, Bemporad said he was “thrilled” to continue his work with the health department and “build upon the great work of Dr. Flanigan and the outstanding MSH team.”

“I believe that MSH is on the right track, and I’m honored to take the helm during this period of positive momentum,” Bemporad said. “Together, we’ll ensure patients continue to receive the high-quality care they deserve as we move towards federal recertification.”

The state health department still intends to apply for recertification by the end of 2025, Matkin said Friday. 

The psychiatric hospital has struggled with the retention of permanent health care employees, paying consistently high rates for temporary traveling staff for several years. Among other challenges, the facility is undergoing significant physical remodels as part of the state’s recertification effort. Patients have recently been shuffled between wings and other temporary facilities while the renovations continue.