The first job Bob Meyer ever had was at an automotive stamping plant in Toledo, Ohio, during his high school years. His father, Ralph, ran the plant, which made compressors and air conditioning parts for cars, but he didn't really care for the job. It was brutal work, to say the least.
When the time came for Mr. Meyer to go to college, he yearned to go to the University of Michigan to wrestle, but the out-of-state tuition made him reconsider. So, he came to a fork in the road — either live in Michigan and hold down another automotive manufacturing job to help pay for school, or find another college.
Mr. Meyer, the current CEO of Phoenix Children's Hospital and a diehard Wolverines fan, chose the former option and went back to work in the auto industry to help fund his college. "I was actually a card-carrying member of the United Auto Workers," Mr. Meyers recalls. "I made enough to pay for two years of school, and it actually was a motivator to stay in school, because that's not what I wanted to be."
We all have to make important decisions in our lives, and we never know the good ones from the bad ones until we actually make them. For Mr. Meyer, his life has been full of taking chances. Those manufacturing experiences set up Mr. Meyer's professional career after he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1975, but there were many more forks in the road ahead.
His first major professional stepping stone came at the Medical College of Ohio, now known as the University of Toledo Medical Center. MCO brought Mr. Meyer on as the director of reimbursement and budget, but many people within his life weren't sure if it was the right step to take. MCO was a new hospital and medical school at the time, and family and friends thought he was taking a risk by jumping into an unproven facility.
"A lot of people, including my father, thought I was nuts for working there, but I thought it was a good idea," Mr. Meyer says. "I was CFO of both the hospital and medical school when I left, and I was in that role when I was 29 years old."
Mr. Meyer valued that time there, but he wanted to move out of Ohio. He landed a job at a different hospital — this time, as CFO of Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., which is now UPMC Hamot. It was a much larger community hospital compared with MCO, and the business side of hospitals was also starting to rapidly change as Medicare diagnosis related groups became protocol. His boss at the time, Dana Lundquist, soon gave him some of the most important advice he's ever learned, advice that even bucks some conventional wisdom today.
"When I was there, I was a young CFO," Mr. Meyer says. "He gave me a subtle reminder and said the revenue side is how you grow the business — not by cutting costs. You should cut costs the day you close the doors. It's those classic comments that grow your career."
Mr. Meyer still had strong roots in Ohio, so he went to work for Toledo-based Owens-Illinois, which was a manufacturing firm that also expanded into post-acute-care consulting. (It's now known as HCR ManorCare.) He also worked in consulting in Louisville, Ky., and eventually moved to Southern California, where he spent time with Ernst & Young's health strategy practice.
"I spent the 90s in the heyday of the physician practice management movement," he says. "It was a very interesting period of time because we learned how to do things and how not to do things, especially with strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions."
While still at Ernst & Young, Mr. Meyer worked on a consulting project for Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, which brought him back into the acute-care hospital business, albeit the first time with children's hospitals. "In Southern California, if you've done something once, you're an expert," Mr. Meyer says, laughing. "It worked because then I did [consulting work] for Children's Denver, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, [Rady] Children's Hospital San Diego and Seattle Children's Hospital."
That's when Phoenix Children's Hospital came into the fold.
"At that point in time, I had gotten hooked," he says. "None of my other clients had I been hooked on like Phoenix Children's."
Since he has taken the helm, Phoenix Children's revenue has gone from $120 million per year to $650 million. It has the largest employed medical group in the area, and its new hospital opened in June of last year.
"I never thought I'd go back into the hospital business," Mr. Meyer adds. "But I've had this tremendous satisfaction, and it feels good when you're running a children's hospital. It's much more rewarding than the adult hospitals I ran."
Mr. Meyer, who with his wife, Diane, are enthralled with their 10 grandchildren, says he has learned something valuable every step of the way during the course of his career, especially while at Ernst & Young. For instance, a while back, he had been complaining about a project that he was engrossed in, and a partner went up to him and said, "If you want to be a partner here, act like one." "That was a profound comment from someone I respected," Mr. Meyer says. "You can complain all you want, or you can just do it."
And now, as president and CEO of the only freestanding children's hospital in Arizona, and one of the largest in the country, Mr. Meyer encourages other healthcare leaders to broaden their horizons. Diversifying one's experience could make for better leadership down the road, he says.
"Take some chances," Mr. Meyer advises. "You don't have to do the same thing your whole career. It's made me more well-rounded, and I think differently than I did when I was running a hospital the first time around."
When the time came for Mr. Meyer to go to college, he yearned to go to the University of Michigan to wrestle, but the out-of-state tuition made him reconsider. So, he came to a fork in the road — either live in Michigan and hold down another automotive manufacturing job to help pay for school, or find another college.
Mr. Meyer, the current CEO of Phoenix Children's Hospital and a diehard Wolverines fan, chose the former option and went back to work in the auto industry to help fund his college. "I was actually a card-carrying member of the United Auto Workers," Mr. Meyers recalls. "I made enough to pay for two years of school, and it actually was a motivator to stay in school, because that's not what I wanted to be."
We all have to make important decisions in our lives, and we never know the good ones from the bad ones until we actually make them. For Mr. Meyer, his life has been full of taking chances. Those manufacturing experiences set up Mr. Meyer's professional career after he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1975, but there were many more forks in the road ahead.Early career
When Mr. Meyer left U of M with his degree in business, he began work as a Medicare auditor for Blue Cross of Northwest Ohio. It was a short stint, "but a good one," he says. "That's where I learned a lot about Medicare reimbursement."His first major professional stepping stone came at the Medical College of Ohio, now known as the University of Toledo Medical Center. MCO brought Mr. Meyer on as the director of reimbursement and budget, but many people within his life weren't sure if it was the right step to take. MCO was a new hospital and medical school at the time, and family and friends thought he was taking a risk by jumping into an unproven facility.
"A lot of people, including my father, thought I was nuts for working there, but I thought it was a good idea," Mr. Meyer says. "I was CFO of both the hospital and medical school when I left, and I was in that role when I was 29 years old."
Mr. Meyer valued that time there, but he wanted to move out of Ohio. He landed a job at a different hospital — this time, as CFO of Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., which is now UPMC Hamot. It was a much larger community hospital compared with MCO, and the business side of hospitals was also starting to rapidly change as Medicare diagnosis related groups became protocol. His boss at the time, Dana Lundquist, soon gave him some of the most important advice he's ever learned, advice that even bucks some conventional wisdom today.
"When I was there, I was a young CFO," Mr. Meyer says. "He gave me a subtle reminder and said the revenue side is how you grow the business — not by cutting costs. You should cut costs the day you close the doors. It's those classic comments that grow your career."
Goodbye, hospital administration
In the mid-1980s, Mr. Meyer wanted a change. He wanted different challenges after he had been in hospital administration for roughly a decade. So he decided to take a dip into a pool in which he had no swimming experience — healthcare consulting.Mr. Meyer still had strong roots in Ohio, so he went to work for Toledo-based Owens-Illinois, which was a manufacturing firm that also expanded into post-acute-care consulting. (It's now known as HCR ManorCare.) He also worked in consulting in Louisville, Ky., and eventually moved to Southern California, where he spent time with Ernst & Young's health strategy practice.
"I spent the 90s in the heyday of the physician practice management movement," he says. "It was a very interesting period of time because we learned how to do things and how not to do things, especially with strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions."
While still at Ernst & Young, Mr. Meyer worked on a consulting project for Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, which brought him back into the acute-care hospital business, albeit the first time with children's hospitals. "In Southern California, if you've done something once, you're an expert," Mr. Meyer says, laughing. "It worked because then I did [consulting work] for Children's Denver, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, [Rady] Children's Hospital San Diego and Seattle Children's Hospital."
That's when Phoenix Children's Hospital came into the fold.
Welcome back, hospital administration
Phoenix Children's hired Mr. Meyer and his consulting practice to help the hospital out. It was struggling financially at the time, and what was originally a turnaround engagement morphed into an interim leadership position. Phoenix Children's hired him as interim CEO in May 2003, a year after it became a freestanding, specialized pediatric hospital, and he became the permanent CEO five months later."At that point in time, I had gotten hooked," he says. "None of my other clients had I been hooked on like Phoenix Children's."
Since he has taken the helm, Phoenix Children's revenue has gone from $120 million per year to $650 million. It has the largest employed medical group in the area, and its new hospital opened in June of last year.
"I never thought I'd go back into the hospital business," Mr. Meyer adds. "But I've had this tremendous satisfaction, and it feels good when you're running a children's hospital. It's much more rewarding than the adult hospitals I ran."
Mr. Meyer, who with his wife, Diane, are enthralled with their 10 grandchildren, says he has learned something valuable every step of the way during the course of his career, especially while at Ernst & Young. For instance, a while back, he had been complaining about a project that he was engrossed in, and a partner went up to him and said, "If you want to be a partner here, act like one." "That was a profound comment from someone I respected," Mr. Meyer says. "You can complain all you want, or you can just do it."
And now, as president and CEO of the only freestanding children's hospital in Arizona, and one of the largest in the country, Mr. Meyer encourages other healthcare leaders to broaden their horizons. Diversifying one's experience could make for better leadership down the road, he says.
"Take some chances," Mr. Meyer advises. "You don't have to do the same thing your whole career. It's made me more well-rounded, and I think differently than I did when I was running a hospital the first time around."
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