Dr. Judy Bittinger
Judy Bittinger, DSN, PhD, RN, began her nursing career in 1978 as an RN at Burdick West Hospital in Haleyville, Ala. After a short stint as a med-surg nurse, she became the Director of Education and Quality Assurance while completing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and her Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Upon receiving her certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner, Dr. Bittinger began working collaboratively with multiple physicians at the hospital to assist them in providing coordinated care to their patients under the new Prospective Payment System (DRGs).
In 1988, Dr. Bittinger accepted the position of Chief Nursing Officer at Northwest Medical Center in Russellville, Ala. While there, she was responsible for opening a hospital-based home health agency and a rural health clinic in addition to assuming administrative responsibility for all clinical departments of the hospital. During this time, she also completed her Doctor of Science in Nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Bittinger returned to Carraway Burdick West in 1997 as the Director of Health Planning with a major focus on restructuring the hospital’s home health agency. Serving as Administrator of the agency, she successfully transitioned the agency to an episodic care model. She was also able to utilize her nurse practitioner skills to provide medical care to hundreds of patients during four mission trips to remote areas in Honduras.
In 2002, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy from Kennedy-Western University with a focus on health administration. When LifePoint Hospitals purchased the hospital in 2002, Dr. Bittinger became the Regional Director of Health Planning. In 2006, Dr. Bittinger also assumed the position of Chief Clinical Officer for Lakeland and served in that capacity until late 2008, when she became one of two Regional Directors of Home Health and Hospice Services for LifePoint with oversight responsibility for agencies in five states initially, and eventually seven states.
Although Dr. Bittinger retired from LifePoint in 2011, she was called out of retirement in late 2017 when the Haleyville Mayor was informed that Lakeland Community Hospital would be closed in less than two months. She began acting as a volunteer consultant to assist the Mayor and other city and county executives to determine a way to keep the hospital open. The resulting decision was to form a Health Care Authority Board to purchase and operate the hospital utilizing revenues from a portion of the city sales tax and county ad valorem tax. Dr. Bittinger was appointed the first member of the Authority and elected the first Board Chairman. The hospital was purchased by the Authority in 2018 and Dr. Bittinger continued to serve as the Chairman of the Authority Board and the Hospital Governing Board until 2023. Stepping down as Chairman in January 2023, she served as Secretary-Treasurer until July when she retired from the Boards. Dr. Bittinger continues to provide financial/audit management for the Authority and serves as a volunteer consultant for the hospital and the Authority.