From finalizing designs for a new hospital to affiliating with a mental health organization, here are what three health system CFOs told Becker's they are looking forward to in the second half of 2024.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Colleen Blye. Executive Vice President, CFO and Chief Business Officer of Montefiore Medicine (New York City): We are excited about continuing our transformation work to enhance patient care and achieve long-term sustainability.
A key focus has been on leveraging digital services to improve patient access and experience, and we look forward to continuing to identify sound business opportunities that support our mission of advancing clinical care and academic research.
Priscilla Needham. CFO of Tallahassee (Fla.) Memorial HealthCare: In the second half of 2024, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare will open a new medical office building at our Panama City Beach campus. The building will initially include primary care, urgent care, cardiology and ambulatory surgery and has been several years in the making. Its opening underscores our long-term commitment to meeting a growing need for high-quality healthcare in North Florida.
We are also finalizing designs for a new hospital on this same campus with a target opening date in 2027. There is a lot of excitement not only from within TMH but from the communities who are eager for expanded healthcare options.
Josh Repac. CFO of Meritus Health (Hagerstown, Md.): There will be a lot of change happening at Meritus Health in the latter half of 2024, all of it part of the organization's continued goal of improving the health of the community.
The July 1 affiliation with Brook Lane, a mental health organization near our home in Hagerstown, will create big opportunities. Mental healthcare is a major part of total healthcare, and with our expansion, we will be able to serve not just our local community, but also the state. With this affiliation, Meritus Health will become one of the largest mental health providers in Maryland. It has also led us to create a bold goal for the coming year: zero suicides in Washington County.
The construction of the 200,000-square-foot proposed Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine will be completed by December 2024. That means we’ll be able to start recruiting for our first class for the fall 2025 semester. The medical school will be a game changer for Hagerstown and the tri-state region, bringing in future doctors who are more likely to stay here after graduation. That will help fill the physician gap in our region.
To improve retention and vacancy rates, Meritus committed to raising its minimum wage to well above the state mandate. The current rate is $18 an hour, but the health system will raise that to $20 an hour by 2026. We've also been partnering with local higher education, beyond our own planned medical school, to fund scholarships for students seeking jobs in the medical field. We will also be bringing about 90 international nurses to work in the hospital over the next 18 months, helping to close our vacancy gap.
We also are excited to watch what happens with our expanded patient transportation program. We are offering free rides to medical appointments to any patient who needs one. The idea is that transportation is no longer a barrier to accessing healthcare. We'll be expanding to include two more vans in addition to the eight we have, as well as investing in a better scheduling system. We've been seeing more than 300 riders a week since starting at the beginning of the year with expectations to increase it to 400 riders a week with the additional capacity. It is costing over $500,000 in annual operating expense to support this program.