Cumberland - Our Town

On Friday evening, WMHS served as the preview location for Maryland Public Television's Cumberland - Our Town.  The public debut was over the weekend on MPT as well as the WV Public Television station.  WMHS was one of a number of sponsors of the documentary with the intention of using it for recruitment and marketing purposes.  Overall, it was well done.  A little long at 68 minutes; some obvious editing is needed.  My goal is to have it reduced to about 20 minutes for our purposes. 

For the most part, Bill Macy was the narrator and he did an exceptional job.  As a Hollywood actor who also hails from Cumberland and who made his acting debut at Allegany High School, he was most generous with his time as well as his very kind remarks.  My understanding is that his time was at no charge to MPT or the sponsors and he filmed his part at the public television station in Los Angeles.  As for the documentary, it captured the essence of Cumberland as to its history, although that part could have been longer and sooner in the documentary; the friendliness of the people throughout the region and the beauty of the area.  There were some true stars in the documentary in addition to Bill Macy, they were Andy Vick, Al Feldstein, Dave Williams, Gino Giaritas and of course, our own Kathy Rogers, Dr. George Garrow and our new hospital.  All in all, it was well done and gives you a very good feeling while you watch it.

Telecommuting: Good or Bad?

In February, Marissa Mayer, the relatively new CEO for Yahoo, issued a change in company policy that there would be no more telecommuting.(If my mother is still reading my blog, that means working from home.)  First of all, I am not a big fan of working from home.  I understand that there are many professions that do it and do it well.  We have a few at WMHS and it seems to work.  You need to have the appropriate oversight and metrics in place to ensure that the work is being accomplished thoroughly and in a timely manner.  In Ms. Mayer's case, it is certainly her prerogative as the CEO to make such a change.  She wants to turnaround a somewhat distressed company and is taking the necessary steps to do so.  Through the boldness of her action, everyone, both in and out of the Web-based industry, is talking about Yahoo.  Also, her board gave her a $1 million bonus last week, so they must be pleased with the actions that she has taken to date.  She joined Yahoo in July 2012, so she obviously had time to study the telecommuting component of her company and found that those employees were not being as productive as they could have been if they were coming to the office each day.  I applaud her for her actions.  The workplace culture at Yahoo was in need of some obvious re-alignment and she took the necessary steps to jumpstart that process.  Could she have handled the matter better?  Probably.  But, these are desperate times requiring desperate measures, especially for Web-based companies.

A Somewhat Surprising, But Welcomed Call

The other day I was sitting at my desk and my cellphone rang.  I looked at the caller ID and it said "Paul Sabarnes."  I answered the phone and it was US Senator Ben Cardin.  He said that his staff was following my daily blog and he felt that he needed to call me directly related to some recent topics.  He said that he certainly valued my opinion and if there was any time that I wanted to talk with him that he would arrange it. 

Some of my recent blogs have been about the Affordable Care Act, sequestration and ethics in government.   In some cases, they were less than flattering for our Federal Government.  I told Senator Cardin that I greatly appreciated that he reached out to me.  I said, for example, that there are aspects of the Affordable Care Act that fit very well with our Total Patient Revenue initiative at WMHS, but there are also some challenges.  He said that my input was important and he would like to hear more from me.  I assume directly and not through my blog, although I have always been complimentary of Senator Cardin.  His politics occasionally will differ from mine, but I think that he represents Maryland, and especially western Maryland, extremely well.  He is one of those guys who is rated very favorably by his constituents (deservedly so), while Congress as a whole is poorly rated.  The Senator said that his door was always open to me in Washington and on a future trip to western Maryland, he would love to sit down and talk with me.  Again, a welcomed call.  Thank you, Senator.

Is It Time to Go?

In this month's issue of the Harvard Business Review, I read an article on the tenure of CEOs.  The article, "Long CEO Tenure Can Hurt Performance," reported that the optimal CEO tenure length is 4.8 years according to a University of Texas professor and two of his doctoral students.  They studied 356 US companies from 2000 to 2010 and examined human resource aspects vs. magnitude and volatility of stock returns.  They wrote that CEOs early in their tenure focus on what's happening inside as well as outside the organization.  As time goes by, they turn their focus internally and focus more intently on employee relations and issues related to operations vs. the marketplace. 

I am in my 14th year as CEO of WMHS (who would have thought that) and although the focus of the article was not health care, there are aspects of the article that can't be ignored by me or any other CEO.  First of all, this is why you have a Chief Operating Officer who can focus on internal operations; they are looked at as the great motivators.  The CEO has to be a motivator but also be the marketplace strategist and the visionary.  I like to think that such strategies and visions brought us our affiliation sixteen years ago, our independence from Ascension Health in 2008, a new state- of-the-art hospital in 2009, a new payment methodology in 2010 that is the future of health care and in 2013 potentially a new alliance between three health systems looking to preserve low-cost, quality health care in their respective communities. 

According to the article, Boards need to provide the necessary oversight to ensure that the CEO is still focused on the internal but also external strategies.  Since I serve at the pleasure of the Board and I have been doing so for over three times the optimal length of CEO tenure, I hope that it is safe to assume that my approach to the position of CEO remains on target.  If it turns out that isn't the case, I'll hear about it.

A Unique Female: She Wasn't Unlike So Many Others

Over the weekend, I read about a 28-year-old woman who paid $275 to participate in the NFL Combine as a kicker.  The expectation by participating in the Combine is that you are the best at what you do and that you are in the best shape of your life.  The NFL is serious business and Lauren Silberman made a mockery of it.   During her five minutes of fame with the media, she was more interested in promoting herself and her business interests.  Ms. Silberman was a club-level soccer player in college who trained with a former college kicker in preparation for her tryout.  Unfortunately, she kicked twice at the NFL Combine, barely reaching midfield from the 35-yard line on her first kick and never reaching it on her second kick.  She injured herself and had to see a trainer after her second kick.  Her actual quote was, "Hopefully the scouts will notice my technique.  It's not always length." You can't be serious???? 

I feel sorry for this woman.  In an effort of self-promotion, she embarrassed herself and made it difficult for women going forward who really feel that they can compete at a professional level.   The complete antithesis of Ms. Silberman is the women whom I get to interact with every day.  From my wife (RN now involved with charitable interests in the region) and daughters (Jessica who heads Boeing's Community Foundation in South Carolina and Lauren who is a Naval Officer), to the female executives with whom I work, the directors, the managers, the nurses, the business leaders, the therapists, the accountants, the physicians,  the assistants and the list goes on.  These are phenomenal individuals who are the best at what they do every day.  Truly special people who can compete with anyone at any level at any time.  Take that, Ms. Silberman.

Projected Impact of Sequester Cuts on WMHS

Leading up to the March 1st Sequester cuts and over this past weekend, there were numerous articles as to the potential impact of the cuts on hospitals and health care systems across the nation and in Maryland.  Health care provider cuts, which equate to $10 billion, are anticipated for April 1st. 

Last year at WMHS, we anticipated that cuts would occur and took steps through a Quality Cost Initiative to reduce the cost of care along with improving quality and making our patients / community healthier.  We took steps to reassess every aspect of the care that we provide and looked to see how we could deliver better care more efficiently.  In addition to a labor savings, we also looked at our supply costs focusing on total joint hip and knee implants, cardiac implantables, drug costs, better blood product utilization, better ways to reprocess equipment, an improved approach to waste management as well as other initiatives.   By looking at both labor expenses and supply expenses through this Quality Cost Initiative, we were able to save almost $8 million.  As a result, I feel that we are better positioned to address any impact on Medicare and Medicaid funding brought on by Sequestration cuts. 

It is important to note that we are not completely out of the woods.  We took steps to address the 2% impact of the cuts for this year's operating budget; however, changes to the Maryland Waiver are still an unknown and we are currently negotiating our next three-year agreement as the Collaborative of ten TPR (Total Patient Revenue) hospitals.  In addition, if Congress reaches an agreement on entitlement cuts, health care could fare far worse that a $10 billion cut.  I, along with members of the executive team, will continue to monitor this issue and attempt keep everyone informed in a timely manner.

Any Idea as to What This Device is Used For?

Do you know what this device is? 

It is used to secure high efficiency light bulbs in their light sockets.  We were experiencing a high loss rate of the now mandatory light bulbs in our common areas throughout the hospital.  The cost to replace the stolen light bulbs was fast becoming a concern.  Those babies aren't cheap and it is safe to assume that is the reason that they were disappearing.  Our team came up with a great solution at least until the perpetrators start taking our lamps in their entirety.  Have a good weekend.