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Claude Watts Jr.

This past year has been a series of transitions for The Regional Medical Center at Memphis amid years of financial woes as a safety net hospital. Aligning with the consulting firm FTI Cambio, working with a new CEO, strategic planning and job cuts have left some wondering where the pieces will fall. Many areas must still be cut, but others cannot be sacrificed.

Claude Watts Jr. is the interim CEO presiding over operations and he is confident that with the right financial planning and tactical action, the MED will not only continue to offer vital services to the region, but will thrive.


Q: Why is the MED vital to the community and if we didn't have it, how would that affect healthcare in the region?

A: The Med is vital because of the unduplicated services you can't get anywhere else. We have the level 3 NICU. I believe there is no equal. We have the high-risk OB, great OB residency program, neonatologists and internal fetal medicine physicians. We have the burn center which serves a large geographic area – as does the trauma center. Outside the MED, you have to go Jackson, Miss., or Nashville to find the next level 1 trauma center.

If there was no MED, then a large metropolitan community would not have those services. Someone would have to step up to the bat, and with the cost if these services, I don't think there would be a lot of volunteers. The community knows the value of the MED. We do have a foundation and we'd like to see more giving to that foundation to help support the mission of the MED.


Q: Through the years the MED continues to stay in financial trouble. What are some core areas for change?

A: Everything has to be looked at. We can't leave any stone unturned. I don't believe we are working at 100 percent efficiency in any area in this hospital. There is a difference between providing excellent care and being efficient. I think we do excellent care well, but I don't think we do efficient well. Some of it may involve processes. Maybe we're utilizing the wrong processes, some may be equipment based and technology updates.


Q: Plans are underway to work with other community clinics to potentially absorb the MED's Health Loop Clinics. Why is that necessary?

A: We believe there are entities out there that can probably do ambulatory medicine or primary care medicine better than we do, and be compensated better for it, therefore they would be more successful in creating stronger services.

In our community we're lucky that we have two qualified health services. We have the Memphis Health Centers and the Christ Community Clinics with multiple sites. The goal is not to decrease access in the community but maintain the same level of access so people have access to good primary care.


Q: How do you hope to cover the gap in compensation from Arkansas and Mississippi?

A: That's the issue – how do we deal with being made whole for those services or being made whole for patients who enter our trauma or burn unit which are our high cost areas for services and where people stay for long periods? In many instances their Medicaid coverage expires but the care continues. Those issues are not being handled and we need to work on that.

With SCHIPS being passed, we're thankful for everyone who's involved with that. It puts the regulation in for the movement of federal dollars across state lines. This is a good thing and now we can participate in Mississippi and Arkansas DISH again. That's a great thing for the MED. Are we going to see those dollars in the next couple of months? No. It will be probably the latter part of this year or early 2010.


Q: What do you see remaining in the future with the MED?

A: We already know that the trauma center is going to be a part of the future, absolutely. We want the burn center to be a part of the future, too. High risk OB is important – there is no one else that takes care of that, and neonatology. Then we have to see what we can build around that.


Q: Where can hospitals improve and what will healthcare systems need to do to survive in the future?

A: Hospitals are going to always be needed but they have to become more efficient, period. Being efficient doesn't mean less care. You can have great outcomes but your processes stink and they cost you a fortune.

They're going to have to reduce their expenses as much as possible, but the goal is quality care. ERs cannot be used as primary care. And they have to get people up and out of the hospital as soon as possible and back into the community. We have to find a way to ensure that access is covered access and that institutions like this remain healthy and can pay for the services they provide. How we're going to go about doing that, I don't know. The cost of healthcare in the future is a big number, but who's going to pay for it? It's not a free ride.

We can't hold the government responsible for totally everything. People have to be responsible. It begins at home, in schools, churches and in the primary care office. It's got to be a multi-directional effort.

Tags:

Claude Watts Jr., efficiency in healthcare, The MED

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