Nick's Blog

Blog, Blog, Blogging Along

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) said, "Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead."

As one of my former CEO's used to take great pride in saying, "The secret is there is no secret."

So, who would'a thunk it?  Readership of this blog is increasing dramatically. I suspect that we will see even more activity this week-end as people tune in to find out what happened at Friday and Saturday's Health System Board meetings. 

Okay. So, I'll just tell you that the secret is there are no secrets. 

As stated in my previous blog postings, the various Boards of the Health System will vote individually to either refuse or endorse the new by-laws for the new Health System model at their respective board meetings over the next few weeks.

Alternative plans have been proposed, discussions have taken place, but the ultimate decision making power in this situation rests with the individual members of the various boards, and that's all there is to it.

Finally, in the "Facts from Florida" column.  Here's one of the most disconcerting things that I heard at my ACHE course last week.  If you are a child today, there is a 30% chance that you will develop Type II diabetes.  One third of our children today will be afflicted with Type II diabetes and the devastating impact of that disease.  Now, besides the fact that we are overweight, underexercised and nutritionally bankrupt, here's one of the other reasons why: We are spending 2.2 trillion dollars this year on health care in the United States and only about 4% of those monies are being spent on preventative medicine.

Think about it. 

Last Week Before the Next to the Last Decision

Let me begin this week's blog by asking any of you who can or will to say a prayer and send your wishes and positive energy to Zane and Tim.  Both are friends of ours who could really use your thoughts and support right now. Zane is our long time publicist and wonderful ally, and Tim is the remarkable husband of one of our Senior Leaders. 

As we approach the next few weeks, the challenges faced by these two very essential and valuable people have helped me to keep all of this in perspective. 

Our strategic rehearsal meeting for next week's health system retreat was held today. At this point, we can only be hopeful that things will conclude in a way that permits both organizations to continue to thrive.  All of this truly is in the hands of a higher power now. 

Keep in mind that if we end up in a non strategic partnership, we will have until July to work out exactly what our new relationship would be with the health system. Conversely, if we end up as a strategic member, nothing would be impacted until the same time, and, at this point, there are no significant plans on the table that would be enacted immediately either way.

When I hear all of the rumors about closing, taking out departments, people not having jobs, etc., ...they could easily be replaced with this quote:

One day Chicken Little was walking in the woods when — KERPLUNK — an acorn fell on her head.  "Oh my goodness!" said Chicken Little. "The sky is falling! I must go and tell the king."

The sky is NOT falling.  The sky is changing.  Nothing ever stays the same.  NOTHING. You must believe in yourself.  Believe in the people who care about you.  Believe that no one wants anything but the best for you and our area, and that your boards will work toward that end.  It is about trusting those people who have proven their trustworthiness.  It's about knowing that people care about you and need you. 

Let me end with another unknown quote:  "I have come to learn that peace is not a thing of permanence.  Hold me close and capture now this moment in our time. I think that this is peace."

What Now My Love?

This week has been interesting. Hits on this website have increased exponentially.  People have lined up to tell me their opinion of last week's blog post.  They have called, written, and confronted me face to face.

Some people were grateful that we wrote it.  Some were scared.  Some were threatened.  Others thanked us for just telling the truth.  There were some who were angry that we had blogged about this situation and others who were upset that we had not written it much sooner.

Those of you who were shaken up by last week's blog obviously have been subjected to weasel words before by someone somewhere, and are not trusting souls.  Consequently, you were reading between my lines. Well, there were NO LINES to read between.  If you know me at all, you know that it is what it is, and it was absolutely as true, personally objective and accurate as I could possibly have made it.

Let's address the rumors from this week: 

1.  Windber Medical Center is negotiating with UPMC. 

No. Let's face it, their UPMC health plan is still in place. They received a great deal of money to leave and still ended up with the cancer business and income that they wanted from this area.  They have no reason, need or desire to come back to Windber.

2. People with 25 years experience will be offered retirement. 

No, this is not in anyone's plans.  In either situation, there are no plans to reduce our clinical services.  We are extremely busy.  We are having the best year we have had in 101 years, and we need to have the best year we've ever had.  We gave over a half million dollars in raises, increased the pension benefit, are planning to increase it again, and have several million in capital needs.  So, thanks for your hard work, but we need you to keep on working hard.

3.  The newspaper alluded to reductions in clinical services. 

If anything, either way the vote goes, there should be an increase in business.  If we become a strategic partner, with very little additional costs, we have the ability to add 40 inpatient beds here at Windber.  If we become a non-strategic partner, there is a good chance that some physicians may do more work here.

Now for the Windber Research Institute:

What a wild ride it has been for the past seven months.  We came under attack from several sides.  In fact, our $12 M budget was hit with $5.5 M in potential take aways from various sources, none of which will be addressed individually in this blog.  Overall, our federal grants were cut locally by approximately $2 M for FY 2007, but we have several significant new partner deals to announce over the next few months that could make up for those redirected funds.  So, watch this blog for further developments.

Our Secret...

Finally, one of our friends was a patient in our hospital this week.  When I spoke with this person after their stay, it was an amazing conversation.  Every kind, caring person was recognized and accounted for through our secret shopper's stay.  There weren't enough accolades available for them to describe their wonderful care.

Patients are coming here because they want their voice to be heard. They want to be treated with dignity and know that they are important to us; each and every person matters.

eUpdate on Life at WMC

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
—Voltaire

This week's blog is an update on the current progress toward Systemness within the Conemaugh Health System.

Last January, the combined boards of the various Conemaugh Health System entities assembled at The Mountain View Inn in Latrobe to analyze where they believed they were as a health system and to determine where they would like to be as a system in the future.  There was overall unanimous consensus among the 100 plus board members present that they wanted to function as a System.

At that meeting, systemness was described to the group on a scale from 1 to 5 with our current relationship within the System being a 1.5 and UPMC's full control model at a five.

Keep in mind that the current members of the System include: Meyersdale and Miners Medical Centers, the Conemaugh Health Foundation, Conemaugh Health Initiatives, Good Samaritan, Memorial Medical Center, and Windber Medical Center (WMC). 

The group generally agreed that they would like to be somewhere between a 2.5 and a 3 re: control and co-operation.  During the next seven months, the Chairs of the various boards met to design the new System and to prepare the Bylaws for that new System.

From Wikepedia: 

In a business situation, bylaws are drafted by a corporation's founders or directors under the authority of its Charter or Articles of Incorporation.  Bylaws widely vary from organization to organization, but generally cover topics such as how directors are elected, how meetings of directors (and in the case of a business, shareholders) are conducted, and what officers the organization will have and a description of their duties.

Bylaws generally can be amended by an organization's Board of Directors.

In WMC's case, that board vote is a requirement.  Our bylaws cannot change without the board's approval.

After about 90 hours of meetings, the group of Chairs reported out at a meeting on September 15th.  Once again, the general consensus of the results of that meeting was that efforts toward systemness should continue.  There were those present who expressed their concerns regarding the amount of control being proposed by the bylaws that were being formed.

On Wednesday night of this past week, the Windber Medical Center Board of Directors met to consider the newly designed bylaws.  The result of that meeting was a decision by the WMC board that the current bylaws as presented by the committee were too restrictive and took too much power away from the Windber Medical Center Board.  Consequently, it was the unanimous  consensus of the WMC Board that there should be additional discussions with the leadership of the System to determine if there was a less controlling model that could be implemented for the System.

On the weekend of January 26th, the combined boards will reconvene at The Mountain View Inn to determine how they would or would not like to move forward.  If WMC's board decides to accept the by-laws, our medical center will be a strategic partner within the Conemaugh Health System.  As President of Windber Medical Center, I will report to Scott Becker, President of the System, and we will do combined, system wide strategic planning.   

 If our board determines that the current bylaws are too restrictive and they decide that they do not want to accept these changes, WMC will become a non-strategic partner of the System.  We will participate in system decisions re: clinical planning, only if both organizations decide that it would be in the best interest of both groups and, although WMC will still belong to the system, we will be a non-strategic partner.  In essence, we would be competitors, although, according to the leadership, we will be friendly competitors.  In this scenario, I will continue to report to the WMC board, and that board will be responsible for approving WMC's strategic plans.  Neither choice is without risk.

So, at this point, as the story continues to unfold, just know that whatever the outcome, it is the board's desire, focus and intention to assure that they choose the best possible outcome for you and for the people of Windber.