WellSpan Health CEO announces plans to step down

Even during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roxanna Gapstur kept looking ahead.

Gapstur, the president and CEO of WellSpan Health, focused on dealing with the crisis, but she also directed some leaders to continue working on long-range planning.

“One part of my team was completely focused on operations and just making sure that we took care of our communities,” she told Chief Healthcare Executive in a 2024 interview. “The other part of my team was focused on our strategy.”

The focus on long-term strategy has paid off for the Pennsylvania-based health system. After leading WellSpan for more than seven years, Gapstur has announced her plans to retire. She’s going to continue leading WellSpan until a successor is in place.

“As a nurse and caregiver, I know healthcare is deeply human, and the people delivering it deserve to be led with purpose,” Gapstur wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

“Leading WellSpan has been the honor of my career. What this team has built together in quality, safety and innovation has had a real and lasting impact on the communities of Central Pennsylvania. I leave with enormous pride and confidence in the teams who are so committed to being a Trusted Partner to our patients.”

Gapstur has led WellSpan through substantial growth. WellSpan’s revenue rose from $2.5 billion to $4.7 billion during her tenure. The system also has added four hospitals to its portfolio, and WellSpan now runs 12 hospitals serving patients across central Pennsylvania and into northern Maryland.

WellSpan has also teamed with Emerus to build three micro hospitals in the region, with one facility opening last month in Newberry Township, near Harrisburg. The other two are slated to open soon.

The micro hospitals have emergency departments and a small number of inpatient beds. Gapstur said in the 2024 interview that they were designed to give communities more options for care without longer drives to some of the system’s larger facilities.

“They're small and nimble,” Gapstur said of the small hospitals. “They also offer access points, right in communities.”

WellSpan has gained national recognition for its efforts to improve the quality of patient care. In 2024, the American Hospital Association awarded the 2024 Quest for Quality prize to the Pennsylvania health system. The hospital association hailed WellSpan’s improvement in patient safety.

Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, praised WellSpan for taking a data-driven approach.

“WellSpan digs into the data to drive its work on patient safety, disparities, and well-being,” Pollack said.

The hospital association also praised WellSpan for making strides in health equity, including its success in improving screening rates of Hispanic residents. Gapstur said in 2024 that the system was aiming to improve outcomes in underserved groups.

“We've worked very hard on health equity,” she said.

A registered nurse, Gapstur joined WellSpan in January 2019. She previously served as president of Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in the HealthPartners system in Minnesota.

The system completed the acquisition of Evangelical Community Hospital in 2024.

While growing its footprint, WellSpan has been embracing AI. WellSpan Health teamed with Hippocratic AI, a health tech company, to launch Ana, an AI agent that helps direct patients schedule appointments and field other requests.

When she spoke to Chief Healthcare Executive in 2024, Gapstur offered a suggestion to women aiming for leadership roles.

“Take risks. That's my advice. My advice is don't hold yourself back,” she said.

“Usually it's our own leadership insecurities that hold us back, our own leadership issues,” Gapstur said. “So leadership is an inward journey. You really need to be self-reflective and think about who you are as a person in order to be able to help other people. And so I say, take risks because I think that's an area that women struggle with sometimes.”