Georgetown-based Lone Star Circle of Care, a federally qualified health provider for under-insured and uninsured patients, continued a tumultuous month with the May 9 announcement CEO Pete Perialas, Jr. was stepping down after 12 years of leading the organization. In a news release, Lone Star stated Perialas had retired.

Lone Star also announced it had named Scott Alarcn Interim CEO. Alarcn has served on LSCCs board of directors for the past six years and is also the CEO of Georgetown Health Foundation.

Thanks to the leadership and vision of Mr. Perialas, LSCC grew from one small clinic to a large federally qualified health center with a network of clinics across Central Texas serving over 100,000 patients, said Jack Hunnicutt, chairman of LSCCs board of directors.

Lone Star operates 30 clinics across Bastrop, Burnet Travis and Williamson counties. The organization offers primary care, womens health, psychiatry, dentistry, optometry and pharmacy services to patients.

The announcement came one week after news surfaced that Lone Star had laid off 65 employees May 1 and 2. Jen Barrera, executive vice president of corporate services said the layoffs were focused primarily on administration staff and was done in order to preserve financial resources for the organizations clinical operations. She also stated no one event contributed to the organizations financial situation.