Two California Healthcare Challenges, One Easy Solution

TWO CALIFORNIA HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES, ONE EASY SOLUTION

A small critical-access hospital north of Sacramento and a health system near San Diego differ in many ways, but both needed interim healthcare leadership.

Orchard Hospital, in Gridley, CA, 60 miles from the state capital, needed a new CEO after five years of leadership issues and an unsuccessful merger that almost shut it down.

According to John Harris, board chairman for the 50-bed hospital, the governing board was determined to do a full search, and involve all stakeholders in the process. So the board turned to Nielsen Healthcare Group (NHG), a national leader in providing interim leadership to hospitals, home health agencies, nursing care facilities, medical groups, and other healthcare facilities.

“We wanted someone who could come in with a calming influence,” says Harris, “and who could also come in with new eyes.”

That’s exactly what they got in Jim Opdahl, who recently completed a six-month stint as Orchard’s interim CEO.

During Opdahl’s tenure, the hospital’s three-member C-suite updated the charge master, switched to an auditing firm whose experience better matched their needs, and refined the review process for Orchard’s 200 employees so it mirrored actual job performance, among other refinements and innovations.

Says Harris of Opdahl, “He’s very collaborative and didn’t try to outshine his staff, but tried to enable them.”

One thing that really stood out to Harris was Ophahl’s frank input on Orchard’s plans for a new Emergency Department. Harris discovered that, when your temporary CEO isn’t looking for a permanent job, he’s much more likely to be forthright.

The Orchard Hospital governing board not only gained Opdahl’s fresh ideas and frank feedback, it bought time to conduct a thorough search for a permanent CEO — another plus many NHG clients appreciate.

Having the time to find the right fit is just what Susan Gray does whenever she contacts NHG for an interim health leader, something Palomar Health has done a dozen times in the last 10 years. Gray, who’s Director of Workforce Management for Palomar, in Escondido, CA, says it can take up to six months to hire the right candidate, sometimes even longer for C-suite positions.

“In this day and age, everybody wants all the stakeholders to interview,” says Gray, unwittingly echoing Harris. “In the meantime, we need somebody with operational experience to manage the day- to-day work.”

Because Palomar is a multi-facility health system, with three acute care hospitals, outpatient centers, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, Gray likes NHG’s proven ability to provide candidates whose resumes include experience working in large systems and even managing multiple locations if necessary.

She points out other, specific advantages her two 2014 interim hires provided: One, for coverage of a temporary vacancy in a Supply Chain Management position with system-wide responsibilities, was filled with a person who had multiple-location experience. The other, which was for a new position, Executive Vice President of Operations, allowed the health system to test the parameters of the job.

“It gives the CEO time to begin to fit the pieces of the new structure in place while searching for a permanent candidate,” Gray says of the EVPO position.

NHG is able to fulfill requests like Orchard’s and Palomar’s due to its unmatched database of 18,000 candidates, who have submitted resumes that are both wide and deep in outpatient, inpatient, clinical, and non-clinical experience. Because of NHG’s high standards and close attention to clients’ needs, successful candidates often start contributing to an organization’s success their first week on the job. “Quite simply, we solve clients’ problems,” says CEO Bruce Nielsen, whose St. Louis-based company has placed interim leaders with healthcare clients since 1991. “We focus our attention on providing true leaders, people who have the necessary hard and soft skills to dig in right away and get the job done.”

NHG also saves clients time and money by assuming some of the due diligence and vetting normally done by Gray and her human resources colleagues: It verifies a candidate’s education, licenses, registrations, and certifications, and checks for any sanctions from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General.

Nielsen and his team also ensure that all candidates presented for a client’s consideration have recently served elsewhere in the requested position and possess a minimum of three relevant, written managerial or professional references.

Once a client chooses a candidate, NHG steps aside to let candidates and clients negotiate salary and other details.

As elsewhere in the country, NHG’s presence on the West Coast is strong. It is a preferred provider of the Pacific Health Association, which provides information, support and representation for state hospital associations in California, Oregon and Washington. Members of those associations, including Orchard and Palomar, receive a 12-percent discount on NHG’s fees.

“The thing that I like about them is they’re extremely responsive,” says Gray of NHG’s work. “I tell Nielsen what we need and they’re on it.”