DEL.ICIO.USHospital exec from western New York to run Grady
Previous CEO Pamela Stephenson gets $150,000 separation deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/21/08
A huge piece of the plan to rescue Grady Memorial Hospital was finding a talented, aggressive leader who wasn't afraid of Grady-sized challenges: too little money, too many poor patients and declining government support in a sticky political universe.
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| Michael Young ran the Erie County Medical Center Corp. in western New York. | ||
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Monday the Grady board announced that their choice to rehabilitate the state's largest, busiest and most-troubled medical system is Michael Young, 52, who for three years has been CEO of a similar but smaller urban hospital.
At the same meeting, the board removed the most recent in a line of CEOs whose efforts couldn't forestall a financial crisis so severe it threatened to close the hospital last year. Hospital CEO Pam Stephenson will leave Sept. 1 when Young takes over.
"Grady is such a special place for Georgia and the Southeast," Young said from Buffalo, where he heads the Erie County Medical Center Corp. "I want to see if we can't put it back on the strong platform it needs to be on."
He added after a press conference Monday in Buffalo, "If it wasn't Grady, I wouldn't have taken the phone call."
Young gets a three-year contract paying $615,000 a year, slightly more than his predecessor. An exceptional performance could earn him a $307,500 bonus.
In an unexpected twist for such announcements, Grady officials went beyond citing Young's achievements and acknowledged he has struggled with alcoholism.
Grady board chairman Pete Correll said Young entered a rehabilitation clinic five years ago and has become a "model of how to handle" such problems, a reflection, Correll said, of his strong problem-solving skills.
He takes over a hospital drowning in debt, struggling with antiquated equipment and dwindling government aid.
At the same meeting Monday morning, the hospital's new non-profit board announced a $325,000 separation deal to remove CEO Stephenson.
Her departure ends an embarrassing chapter during which Stephenson was accused of trying to profit from her hastily arranged tenure as the hospital's chief and her quick removal, widely considered inevitable.
The unanimous choice of a new CEO marks another significant step in defining a new Grady. The century-old hospital is Atlanta's top trauma hospital and its last refuge of care for the poor.
The transformation began a few months ago when a new nonprofit board took control of the hospital and continued Monday with the board members appointing their main agent of change.
"This is the right step in the right direction," said John Eaves, the head of the Fulton County Commission, which provides about $80 million a year in Grady funding.
Correll praised Young for turning around two failing hospitals. Both Grady and Young's current hospital in New York are urban teaching hospitals that largely serve the poor.
Young has more than 20 years experience as a hospital CEO. He said he reduced emergency-room delays at Erie ? also a problem at Grady ? and increased admissions and revenues.
"We at Erie County Medical Center were losing $30 million a year [before I came]. Last year, we made $17 million in operating profit, " Young said. Grady's annual deficit is $43 million.
He also helped turn around Lancaster General Hospital in Pennsylvania.
Correll said Young has made his problem with alcohol public.
Young said Monday, "I have a disease that everyone scorns and no one wants to talk about. ... I think it makes me more knowledgeable about patient care and more empathetic."
Grady's struggles and its rehabilitation effort have met with skepticism and criticism from elected leaders on one side of the issue and advocates for the poor on the other.
Legislators and county officials — Fulton and DeKalb help fund Grady — have been reluctant to increase funding because of the hospital's financial performance.
On Monday, some officials praised the hiring as a new start.
"Michael Young is highly qualified and has an excellent track record as an administrator," said Ron Sauder, a spokesman for Emory University School of Medicine, which supplies many of the doctors at Grady. "We look forward to working with him to achieve positive results for Grady and all the patients whom Grady serves."
The Grady Coalition, a citizens group that has been critical of changes at the hospital, offered guarded approval Monday.
"He kind of stood out" among the CEO candidates, said coalition leader Rev. Tim McDonald. "He has a knack of bringing the community together."
But McDonald worried that Young will cut services to the poor to balance the hospital's bottom line.
"We will not balance this budget on the backs of the poor," McDonald said. "We will not tolerate layoffs or the closing of key clinics without protest."
CHALLENGES AHEAD
New Grady CEO Michael Young has formidable challenges ahead as he tries to turnaround the huge hospital.
- Massive debt — Grady ended last year $43 million in debt and continues to bleed millions every month.
- The lack of paying patients — Grady in large part serves the poor and uninsured, resulting in millions of dollars in uncompensated care.
- Trauma Care — Grady, which is Atlanta's only top level trauma unit, loses $40 million a year providing this expensive service.
- EMS — Following a recent $6.8 million cut in emergency ambulance funding from Fulton County, Grady officials are concerned longer response times may result in lives lost.
- Accreditation — The hospital's accreditation appears threatened following a critical review.
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