Kootenai Health appoints Kim Ransier, Tag Jacklin to board of directors

Kootenai Health brought in two new board members, Kim Ransier and Tag Jacklin, as the Coeur d’Alene health system weighs expansion, staffing and access decisions that will affect patients from Kootenai County to eastern Washington, Montana and the Inland Northwest. Both were appointed May 5 and will serve three-year terms through May 2029, with the option for renewal.

The appointments matter because Kootenai Health is more than a hospital name on Fort Grounds. Its main campus in Coeur d’Alene includes a 381-bed community-owned hospital, and the system has been expanding into a region where population growth has outpaced many local services. Kootenai County’s estimated population reached 188,323 on July 1, 2024, and 191,864 a year later, after a 14% increase over five years.

Robert McFarland, the board chair, said the new members bring different community perspectives, strong skills and a fresh viewpoint that will help guide Kootenai Health into the future. That perspective will matter as the system continues to make decisions tied to cost of care, recruitment, emergency capacity and long-range development.

Ransier comes to the board with more than 50 years of experience in executive, clinical and consulting work. She most recently served as executive director of Hospice of North Idaho, where the organization says she helped guide a period of growth, stronger quality outcomes and long-term financial stability. Her earlier work included hospital administration, healthcare consulting and oncology program development, including helping establish the first cancer center in North Idaho while she was at Kootenai Medical Center. Ransier holds degrees in nursing and healthcare administration and remains an active registered nurse in Idaho.

Hospice of North Idaho has served patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families since 1981, with care across Kootenai, Shoshone and Benewah counties. That background gives Ransier direct experience with the kind of services families rely on when they are navigating serious illness, end-of-life care and coordination between hospital and community providers.

Jacklin brings a different set of skills to the board. A lifelong North Idaho resident, he is president and CEO of Medalist Development and Jacklin Land Company, where he oversees commercial and residential projects across the region. He also serves as a director at Bank CDA and has been involved with the Coeur d’Alene Area Economic Development Corporation. His work ties him closely to the growth pressures shaping Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene and surrounding communities.

Those pressures are already visible in Kootenai Health’s own plans. The system and MultiCare broke ground on the Prairie Medical Campus in Post Falls, a 30-acre joint venture that is expected to include a 25,000-square-foot micro-hospital and a 65,000-square-foot medical office building in its first phase. Kootenai Health’s 2023 annual report also shows how busy the system has become, with 17,909 inpatient discharges, 63,165 emergency department visits and 2,226 babies born.

The board changes come as Kootenai Health continues operating under a new governance structure. The organization says it has two boards, the Kootenai Hospital District Board of Trustees and the private Kootenai Health Inc. Board of Directors, and that the hospital district board became non-functioning Jan. 1, 2024, after the system moved to a nonprofit 501(c)(3) model. The board of trustees unanimously voted on May 2, 2023, to make that transition, setting the stage for the next round of decisions now landing with Ransier and Jacklin.