“Carlton will be an exceptional leader for Gulf Coast Medical Center,” Michael P. Joyce, president of Hospital Corp. of America North Florida Division, the parent company of GCMC, said in the release. “He has a proven track record and has done an outstanding job in his previous positions in hospital operations. We are pleased to welcome him to Northwest Florida.”
He brings sixteen years of experience in health care administration with him, eleven of those serving with HCA.
Carlton come to Gulf Coast Medical from Redmond Regional Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, where he served as COO for the past six years.
“I look forward to joining the Gulf Coast Medical Center family and becoming a part of the Panama City community,” Carlton said. “The facility has an exciting future as a leader in providing health care services for Northwest Florida. I am confident we will build upon past successes well into the future.”
Most recently among those successes was the inclusion of the GCMC into U.S. News and World Report's list of the nation's top hospitals – at the 23 spot of Florida hospitals – for its work on kidney disease.
His own successes include the recent ground breaking on a $30 million tower that will add forty-two beds to GCMC. This will provide the region with the first Level 3 Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit. He also has plans for a major ER expansion and a second catheterization lab.
Prior to 2006, Carlton served as the COO of Parkridge Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Vice President for the service lines at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic in New Orleans. He received his Bachelor of Science from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama and his Master of Business Administration from Troy State University. He is a triathlete and serves in a variety of organizations in Rome, including the Rome Seven Hills Rotary and as vice-chair of the business and professional division at the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce.
Carlton replaces Brian Baumgardner, who becomes CEO of the West Florida Healthcare System in Pensacola.