Lake Region Healthcare Names Four Leaders to New Executive Roles

Deb Pelch's two years as a vice president at Lake Region Healthcare ended Wednesday with a promotion that places her directly over ambulatory care and oncology services, the appointment with the most immediate implications for what specialist access Fergus Falls-area patients can count on without leaving Otter Tail County.

Pelch's new title, Executive Vice President of Ambulatory and Professional Services, makes her accountable for strategic, operational, quality, and financial performance across LRH's outpatient and cancer care lines, along with provider recruitment and medical staff services carried out in coordination with Lake Region Medical Group. That last responsibility, physician recruitment, is among the most consequential functions in rural healthcare, where filling a single specialty vacancy can determine whether patients drive to a regional hub or receive care locally.

LRH also named three Executive Directors: Brian Andrews in Facilities Management, Angie Crummy in Finance and Controller, and Abby Drouillard in Quality, Safety, and Risk Management. The Executive Director title is entirely new to the organization.

CEO Kent Mattson framed the designation as purposeful. "The Executive Director title is new to Lake Region Healthcare and reflects our evolving approach to today's healthcare environment," Mattson said. He added that the roles are designed to sharpen LRH's ability to navigate a complex industry while advancing goals around high reliability, continuous improvement, and long-term organizational sustainability.

The three new director-level appointments address the fault lines most visible in rural hospital finances: aging infrastructure costs falling to Andrews, margin pressure and fiscal discipline to Crummy, and patient safety and regulatory performance to Drouillard. All four executives will carry their existing duties alongside the expanded roles and take part in system-wide strategy and operational decision-making forums.

For a health system that functions as Otter Tail County's primary access point for oncology services, Pelch's elevation signals that outpatient and cancer care continuity sits at the center of LRH's near-term priorities, not as a future aspiration but as an executive-level accountability with a named face attached to it.