Jim Lowry, president and CEO of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, announced Wednesday that he will retire from his post in September 2011.

Colquitt Regional Medical Center’s chief executive officer Jim Lowry announced Wednesday that he will retire on Sept. 30, 2011. His decision to step down comes as he nears his 70th birthday.

Colquitt County Hospital Authority Chairman Brooks Sheldon said a committee will soon be appointed to begin the search for Lowry’s replacement, a process which he expects to take about nine months.

Lowry was first hired as assistant administrator of Vereen Memorial Hospital 40 years ago. During his tenure here, Lowry guided the hospital from a small rural facility to a medical center with more than 800 employees and assets in excess of $79 million.

“Jim Lowry is a tireless champion for quality, affordable health care in rural Georgia and one of the most respected voices in our industry,” said Joe Parker, president of the Georgia Hospital Association. “His career at Colquitt Regional serves as a shining example of excellence, commitment and community service.”

Lowry has held numerous healthcare leadership positions, including past president of the Georgia Chapter of Healthcare Financial Management Association; past chairman of the Georgia Hospital Association and a member of the board of directors of Blue Cross/Blue Shield for 14 years. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Georgia board for Physician Workforce Development, which is the state agency responsible for advising the governor and general assembly on physician workforce and medical education policy and issues.

Lowry, who is only the fourth CEO in the hospital’s 71-year history, became the hospital’s longest serving CEO more than a year ago when he surpassed Nora Manning’s tenure of 28 years at the helm.

Throughout his tenure, Lowry has been recognized with several prestigious awards. Last month, the Georgia Hospital Association presented him its Lifetime Heroic Achievement Award, which is given each year to a healthcare worker who has demonstrated extraordinary service for 30 years or more. Lowry was also named CEO of the Year this year by the Georgia Council for Volunteer Auxiliaries. In 2003, Lowry was presented the GHA Chairman’s Award. In 1992 Colquitt Regional was named Georgia’s Rural Hospital of the Year and in 2008 the hospital won the Georgia Hospital Association’s Community Leadership Award for its community outreach initiatives and physician recruitment efforts.  

Lowry said he still wants to be a part of the Moultrie community and expects to become very active in rebuilding the city’s tennis center.   

As assistant administrator at Vereen Memorial, Lowry impressed the Colquitt County Hospital Authority with his strategic planning abilities, clinical knowledge, financial expertise and self motivation. When Millard Wear retired as CEO in 1982 the Hospital Authority promoted Lowry.

 Upon becoming CEO, Lowry initiated a 10-year master plan which continues to be studied and adjusted annually. A long series of milestones followed:

• In 1982, realizing that nearly half of the medical staff was over the age of 60, the hospital launched a physician recruitment program.

•  In 1983, the hospital took over home health services and took it from the brink of bankruptcy to a profit-making venture.

• In 1984, CT services were introduced.

•  In 1985, dialysis services and an outpatient surgery unit opened.

•  In 1986, CRMC began oncology and mammography services.

•  In 1987, Lowry established the Colquitt Regional Medical Foundation that now has an endowment of more than $4 million and continues to fund many hospital needs.

The expansion of services necessitated a string of hospital expansions, including:

•  A $6 million expansion of the emergency and radiology departments and front entrance in 1993.

• The addition of an OB wing in 1996 and the opening of a new dialysis center that doubled the capacity of the older unit. (In 2003, a new dialysis facility was built that tripled the capacity of the second unit.)

• A renovation of the hospital’s first floor costing $4 million in 2000.

• A new cardiac catheterization laboratory in 2005, the same year the energy plant was upgraded to allow the hospital to expand by 40 percent without adding infrastructure.

Lowry said he will continue to serve on the governor’s Physicians Work Force Board.

“It has been a great pleasure and honor to serve as president of CRMC and to work with many employees and physicians over the years. I figure I have had the opportunity to work with over 6,000 employees and 300 physicians over the past 40 years — from Mrs. Pyle and Dr. Walter Harrison to Patsy Grier, our 2010 Employee of the Year, and Dr. Saurabh Khakharia, our newest physician,” said Lowry.

Sheldon said a new CEO will come into a very financially sound institution.