The Milestones That Matter Most
During this first quarter, I will have surpassed the 100-day milestone as your CEO. As I look to the future, I am inspired by the ideas you’ve shared, and the tremendous dedication and commitment I’ve observed in our Home Office and in each of our markets.
Now, I’d like to share some major organizational milestones we are working toward in 2017. I look forward to all of us achieving these together, as we focus on making this a year of continued momentum and explosive growth.
Milestone #1: Our success as an organization and as individuals starts with relationships and trust, the hallmarks of every strong foundation. I have made this one of my first and highest priorities.
- I have met with all our great hospital partners
- I have visited with all our markets, and met with our market leaders and hospital teams
- I have interacted with our amazing corporate teams that support our fantastic caregivers in the field
- In healthcare services, it is your people who ultimately differentiate you from the competition. I am proud of the passion and commitment to our mission and values
our teams display every day
Milestone #2: Working closely with our private equity partner, Welsh Carson, we have ensured our financial structure will give us a strong balance sheet, allowing us to fully execute our future growth plans.
Milestone #3: We have continued to hire into the organization excellent talent, who bring experience, innovative ideas and strong leadership that allow us to execute our plans going forward. In addition, we’ve asked some of our key leaders to take on new or expanded roles Among these significant recent changes are:
- George Attmore, our new Chief Financial Officer. The company is investing in upgrading our financial capabilities, and George has the extensive experience and expertise in finance and healthcare we need to strategically oversee and manage these important operations. He most recently served as CFO at CareSpot Express Healthcare. He also was senior financial officer at DSI Renal Inc., a multisite provider of dialysis services, where he was responsible for all treasury and capital markets functions. With Emerus, he will be responsible for finance and accounting department functions, debt structuring and covenant compliance, financial forecasts, budgets and analysis.
- Laura Hennum, our new Las Vegas Market CEO. We are excited about our new partnership with Dignity Health, and Laura’s proven leadership will help us raise the level of care in the Las Vegas Market. Before joining Emerus, she was the Chief Strategy Officer for Dignity Health, Nevada. She was responsible for building Dignity Health’s market share, brand recognition and profitability for the Nevada service area. Previously, she was the Vice President of Professional Services and Business Development for a regional, not-for-profit health system in Northern California. She also worked in an academic health system, as well as in both privately held and publicly traded for-profit settings.
- Dr. William “Bill” Mallott has taken on a new role as our National Chief Hospitalist. The company is making an important investment in the inpatient side of our care continuum, and we’re excited about the leadership Bill will provide. He previously served as Regional Medical Director of Inpatient Specialists for Emerus Hospitals, where his experience and empathetic care made him a frequent featured guest as a health expert on medical news segments for San Antonio television stations.
- David Mitchell, formerly Regional CNO for San Antonio, has been named Vice President of Nursing Services and Chief Nursing and Informatics Officer. David will serve as the organization’s chief nursing executive, responsible for ensuring the quality of all nursing services throughout Emerus, including nursing education, general nursing performance and compliance with the highest nursing standards. He also will help us build our Clinical Informatics Department to ensure its teams and clinicians can provide the greatest level of patient care and safety, based on data-driven practices. David, who has been with the company since its inception and has risen through the ranks from night nurse, to day nurse, to nursing manager, to chief nursing officer to CEO of a regional market, is uniquely qualified for this expansive role.
Milestone #4: We have completed the 2017 budget for the company, and anticipate submitting it to the board for approval this week. We are developing plans to put in place the appropriate infrastructure, processes and systems that will allow us to grow in 2017 and beyond, while continuing to provide high quality, compassionate care to our patients.
Milestone #5: We will build on the momentum created by our healthy pipeline of growth. Our plan, based on signed partnerships already approved, is outlined below. We will continue to invest in our Project Management Team, which is focused on operationalizing new markets.
- 2016 – End of Year – 19 facilities, five markets, four hospital system partners
- 2017 – End of Year – 28 facilities, eight markets, eight hospital system partners
- 2018 – End of Year – 38 facilities, nine markets, nine hospital system partners
- 2019 – End of Year – 46 facilities, 10 markets, 10 hospital system partners
Milestone #6: We will receive the Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for the fifth consecutive year. Only organizations that have achieved the 95th percentile or higher for overall excellence receive this honor. I’m stating this as a fact – not a goal – because I know we have the culture, talent and dedication to make this happen year after year.
Milestone #7: We will upgrade our technology where needed and continue to innovate to keep us ahead of our competitors and attractive to prospective partners and investors. This ensures that we will remain leaders in the systemic improvement of healthcare delivery and the health of communities.
- We recently executed an agreement with Cerner, which will partner with us to implement its Cerner technology platform, which includes – but is not limited to – management of Electronic Hospital Records in our micro-hospitals.
By remaining focused on excellence and a culture where the best idea wins, we’ll not only surpass these milestones, we’ll reach others we haven’t even imagined yet. Thank you for all you do on behalf of our company, and the patients you serve so well.
