The Montgomery County Hospital District is looking for a new medical director after deciding not to renew the contract of former director Mark Escott earlier this year.

Escott was hired in August 2012 through a three-year contract between the hospital district and the Baylor College of Medicine that expired in August this year, MCHD CEO Randy Johnson said.

“It was at the end of the annual renewal, and we decided that we were going in a new direction,” he said. “It was an administrative change.” 

The district is looking for a director with medical and clinical experience.

“We are looking for a physician with enough emergency medical experience to serve a large and growing county and the clinical experience to foster hospital relationships,” Emergency Medical Services Director Jared Cosper said.  “We are looking for someone [interested] in EMT and paramedic education.”

Dr. Shkelzen Hoxhaj, chief of emergency medicine with the Baylor College of Medicine, is operating as the interim medical director.

The hospital district provides ambulance services, manages the county’s public health district and offers community education programs to a population of about 500,000 residents within a 1,100-square-mile area.