By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.
Sandoval Regional Medical Center’s longtime CEO is stepping down Dec. 11, and she used what may be her final mill levy update to Sandoval County commissioners to introduce the man taking her place — while fielding pointed questions about ER wait times, a doctor shortage and crash data commissioners say is hitting their districts.
Kate Becker, CEO of UNM Hospital, told commissioners she’s retiring Dec. 11. Stepping into the role is Dr. Steve McLaughlin, currently interim vice president of clinical affairs at the UNM Health Sciences Center. McLaughlin told commissioners he’s been at UNM since 1995, finished his residency there as an emergency medicine physician, and helped open SRMC’s emergency department when the Sandoval campus launched in 2012. Becker said Meaghan Carey Eiland, SRMC’s hospital chief executive, will remain commissioners’ day-to-day contact through the transition.
SRMC reported gains in nearly every service line in fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal year 2025, including a more than 10% jump in surgical services and a significant rise in clinic visits — which Becker said helps keep patients out of the hospital altogether. New providers arriving this summer include orthopedics, plastic surgery and urogynecology; SRMC still won’t deliver babies but will offer prenatal care. Hospital volumes have stayed busy across the board this summer, which Becker attributed partly to strained access to care in surrounding rural communities.
The mill levy has collected a little over $8 million through May, funding trauma services — by far the largest share — along with behavioral health services at the Sandoval County Detention Center. Trauma volumes held roughly flat year over year, with falls the leading cause, followed by motor vehicle and ATV accidents. Ahead of this fall’s levy renewal, SRMC is running billboards, including one along NM 528, to raise awareness of the services the levy funds.
Commissioner Joshua Jones, District 5, pressed Becker on whether recent state medical malpractice policy changes have stabilized New Mexico’s physician workforce. Becker said it’s too early to tell, since the changes took effect just this past legislative session, and recruiting and retention effects typically take two to five years to show up. Jones also asked whether new urgent care clinics in the county have eased ER wait times; Becker didn’t have current averages on hand, noting a particularly overloaded stretch last month followed by a return to normal volumes, and said she’d follow up with data. Jones pressed further for a breakdown of where crashes are occurring countywide, citing a rise in vehicle emergencies and fatalities in his district. Becker said SRMC doesn’t track crash locations but offered to work with law enforcement to get that information.
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- SRMC’s infection-prevention goals were all met last year, with hospital-acquired infection rates below target.
- Behavioral health visits rose in primary care clinics, though the standalone behavioral health clinic saw a dip after losing a provider; SRMC says a replacement is returning.
- Becker also credited a new medication-safety technology, adopted since SRMC came under UNMH, with strong staff adoption.