A familiar face will take over next week as interim president and CEO at Baltimore Washington Medical Center when longtime hospital leader James R. Walker retires.

Karen E. Olscamp, senior vice president and chief operating officer, was selected this month after an intensive, year-long national search.

But in announcing the change yesterday, the parent company of BWMC stopped short of handing her the job on a permanent basis. Instead the University of Maryland Medical System will wait on a final choice until it replaces its own retiring chief executive officer sometime next year.

Mr. Walker, chief executive at BWMC for...