AHS Staffing LLC, a healthcare staffing firm based in Edmond, Okla., announced Steven Francis joined the company as executive chairman. Francis is the co-founder and former chairman and CEO of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AHS), the largest US healthcare staffing firm.

BelHealth Investment Partners LLC, a healthcare-focused private equity firm, last week acquired AHS Staffing, which operates two divisions: pharmastat for pharmacy staffing and renalstat for dialysis travel nurses.

Francis founded AMN with his wife Gayle in 1985. He served as CEO of the company until 2005, and as chairman of the board until 2008. Following his tenure at AMN, Francis was chairman of travel nurse provider Medical Solutions, which was acquired by investment partners Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Company and Heritage Group in September 2015.

“We are excited to welcome Steven to the team,” CEO Mark Smith said. “We are well positioned to take advantage of the positive tailwinds in the staffing industry and execute on our growth plan. We look forward to leveraging Steven’s incredible industry experience and successes to help AHS accelerate its growth.”

“I am excited to take on the executive chairman role with AHS,” Francis said. “Following my 23 years building AMN, I enjoyed my experience growing Medical Solutions, a sponsored back healthcare staffing business that was successfully sold in 2015. We achieved great success and I look forward to replicating our accomplishments with BelHealth. Mark, Jerick and the AHS team have built an exceptional business that is poised to achieve exponential growth in the years ahead. With BelHealth’s resources and network and the team we have put together, we are well positioned to build a leading, national, diversified healthcare staffing platform.”