Doug Shirley

The CFO Holding the Lease

Chief Executive Officer, ScionHealth

Director, 2027Long-term acute care, private equity ownedApollo Global Management funds

Last verified November 6, 2026

Caa2

Moody's rating, with a limited default marker, Jan. 2025

Hospitals closed in 2025

10.7%

Rate on the $300M Ventas loan, June 2026

$80M

Annual rent on 23 Kindred hospitals from May 2025

Overview

Doug Shirley is a career hospital finance executive who became ScionHealth's CEO on June 10, 2026 after 14 months as its CFO. ScionHealth is the Apollo-owned company spun out of Lifepoint in 2021 to hold Kindred's long-term acute care hospitals. Moody's rates it deep in junk. It closed three hospitals in 2025 and sold eight more to Lifepoint in June 2026. It now depends on its landlord Ventas for a $300 million loan at 10.7%. Shirley replaced Rob Jay on the FAH board. He has no public policy record.

Since April 2026

What has changed

April 23, 2026Kindred Hospitals joins AHA, FAH and two long-term hospital groups on reform principles for long-term care hospital payment. source
June 2, 2026Sale of eight community hospitals to Lifepoint closes. source
June 10, 2026Shirley named CEO; Rob Jay moves to Executive Chairman. source
June 30, 2026Ventas $300 million loan and lease extension to 2039 completed. source
September 24, 2026Union pickets at two California Kindred hospitals over staffing. source
October 14, 2026Named a Director on FAH's 2027 board, replacing Rob Jay. source

The company

ScionHealth

•62 long-term acute care hospitals under the Kindred, Cornerstone and Solara brands, plus six community hospital campuses, in 23 states. More than 16,000 employees (company page, unchanged since April 2025).
•Private; no revenue, net income or debt figure is published. A 2023 statement filed in Indiana lists a $450 million term loan due 2028.
•Formed December 2021 when Apollo-owned Lifepoint bought Kindred and spun the long-term hospitals plus 18 community hospitals into a new 79-hospital company.
•Moody's cut the corporate rating to Caa2 in December 2023. In January 2025 it added a limited default marker after a distressed exchange and cited weak liquidity and an unsustainable capital structure.
•February 2025: closures announced for Kindred Chicago Lakeshore, Kindred Sycamore and Kindred Bay Area in Tampa, with more than 300 layoffs. Occupancy at the Chicago hospitals was near a third.
•June 2, 2026: eight community hospitals in six states sold to Lifepoint, the Apollo sister company that spun them off. Price not disclosed.
•Shirley: CFO from April 8, 2025. Before that he was CFO of PathGroup and National Group and revenue cycle head at Surgery Partners. Earlier he was CFO of Cooper Health System in New Jersey from 2009 and a PwC health care advisory director in Nashville. Earlier senior roles at Ardent Health Services.

Ownership and control

•Owned by Apollo Global Management funds since 2021. The percentage and fund are not public.
•Ventas, the REIT landlord, holds warrants for 9.9% of the equity of a Kindred parent, exercisable until September 2034 (Ventas 10-K, 2025).
•Ventas is also a secured lender since June 2026: a $300 million six-year interest-only loan at 10.7%. Kindred's rent and loans are guaranteed by the corporate parent.

Settlements, investigations and lawsuits

•February 2023: Cornerstone Healthcare Group paid $21.6 million to settle False Claims Act allegations over Medicare billing from 2012 to 2018. ScionHealth bought Cornerstone in January 2023, after the conduct period.
•September 2026: union members picketed Kindred Hospital San Diego and Kindred Hospital Bay Area in San Leandro over staffing and equipment. The union cites 129 state complaints at San Diego since 2023.
•No 2025 or 2026 lawsuit, DOJ matter, attorney general action or bankruptcy involving ScionHealth was found in web searches.

Compensation

Year	Total compensation	CEO-to-worker pay ratio
2025	Not public (private company)	Not public

Deals since 2025

•September 16, 2024: Ventas bought five Kindred hospitals for $189 million and leased them back at $16 million a year. Rent on 23 other Kindred hospitals reset from $109 million to $80 million from May 1, 2025. Ventas received warrants for 9.9% of the equity.
•February 2025: three hospital closures announced; all closed by April 30, 2025.
•March 6 to June 2, 2026: eight community hospitals sold to Lifepoint. ScionHealth keeps its long-term hospitals and six community campuses.
•June 2026: all Kindred leases combined into one master lease running to April 30, 2039. Ventas lends $300 million at 10.7% in a refinancing meant to reduce debt.

Political giving

•No federal contribution by Shirley was found for January 2024 through November 2026 (FEC searches by name in Kentucky and Tennessee).
•ScionHealth's corporate PAC raised $88,353 and gave $62,000 to other committees in the 2025-26 cycle through October 14, 2026 (FEC).

Red flags

Conflicts and concerns

A company rated Caa2 with a limited default marker now has a seat on the hospital lobby's board. Its landlord is also its lender and a warrant holder.

Three hospitals closed in 2025 and eight were sold in 2026 to an affiliate under the same private equity owner, with no price disclosed.

Shirley came to ScionHealth from Ardent Health Services, the company of fellow new director Dave Caspers, and before that from Surgery Partners.

No public statement by Shirley on any policy question was found.

Physician-owned hospitals

ScionHealth's long-term acute care hospitals do not compete with physician-owned surgical hospitals. Its stake in FAH is Medicare payment. The long-term hospital rate, the 25-day stay rule and the site-neutral criteria decide which patients it can bill at the higher rate. Those are the same payment distinctions FAH defends against physician offices. Shirley's seat is a creditor's seat: the money that keeps ScionHealth solvent is Medicare's.

Sources