Longtime senior IT executive Craig Richardville abruptly departs Atrium Health

Amid a name change and several pending mergers, Atrium Health has lost its senior vice president and chief information and analytics officer. 

Craig Richardville, who was a senior IT executive with the organization for more than 20 years, no longer works for the North Carolina health system, an Atrium spokesperson told FierceHealthcare. Atrium changed its name last week from Carolinas HealthCare System.

RELATED: Carolinas HealthCare System changes name to Atrium Health, announces merger with Navicent Health

"We do not discuss the details of personnel matters," Atrium spokesperson Teri Porter said in an emailed statement. "Atrium Health is engaged in the initial phase of a national search for a chief information officer. In the meantime, we have named an internal interim chief information analytics officer."

Porter did not specify who has been named to the interim position.

RELATED: Carolinas HealthCare and Novant Health launch partnership to share medical records

Richardville was named CIO of the year in 2015 by HIMMS and the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME).  According to his LinkedIn profile, Richardville was directly responsible for all IT and analytics services at the health system, which includes more than 40 hospitals and 900 care locations. He oversaw an annual operating budget of $300 million.

Atrium, meanwhile, is in the middle of finalizing several mergers. Last week it announced a deal to merge with Georgia-based Navicent Health. That announcement came months after the system revealed plans to merge with UNC Health Care to create one of the largest nonprofit providers in the country. However, that merger has run up against opposition from the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, which argued the deal would drive up patient costs.

Editor's Note: Aug. 28, 2018 - This article has been updated to remove personal information about Richardville that was reported by another news outlet.