Robert Fortney was placed as the chief nursing officer at Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, Illinois. IVCHincludes a 49-bed acute care medical center, as well a hospice, an adult day care center, and a Durable Medical Equipment company. Serving portions of three counties, it holds a unique place in the market as an independent community hospital. In his role, Robert is responsible for the planning, organization, coordination, financial management, and direction of all nursing services within the hospital, ensuring the maintenance of professional practice standards and the achievement of objectives that complement those of the organization. He is a leader in the performance improvement, service excellence, quality, and compliance functions, supervising Women’s Health, Hospice, Pharmacy, Social Services, Education, and Perioperative Services.
Prior to joining Illinois Valley, Robert served as a vice president at Northwest Community Healthcare, a system in northwest suburban Chicago that is anchored by a 489-bed hospital. There, he was responsible for the development, optimization, administration, and leadership of six service lines into centers of excellence, in order to drive and support important quality and growth initiatives such as better care coordination and successful population health management. He created an environment in which physicians and administrative service line leaders worked together collaboratively to remove barriers and roadblocks to providing quality care, eliminating silos to facilitate program development across service lines. He facilitated two joint ventures, one with the cardiovascular service line and the other with orthopedics, that resulted in $1.6 million in savings, and was instrumental in creating and implementing a number of successful programs within all of the service lines for which he was accountable.
Previously, Robert served as the vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago, and in progressively responsible roles within Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, from clinical nurse manager in the neuro/spine ICU, to director of emergency services, to director of patient care services – as well as director of orthopedics and neuroscience for the four-hospital Northwestern Medicine Healthcare System. He began his career in staff nurse and nurse manager positions in Wisconsin.
Robert is originally from northern Wisconsin. He holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, and a master’s degree in nursing leadership and management from DePaul University in Chicago. In addition to his leadership roles in healthcare organizations, Robert owns a consulting company through which he provides advice and direction to other healthcare leaders. Outside of work, Robert enjoys spending time with his wife, as well as painting and collecting art.
QLK’s Jake Barto led the search to recruit Robert to Illinois Valley, where his duties began on January 8, 2018.
