Amy Floria, CFO of Goshen (Ind.) Health System, discusses the health system's goals and challenges for 2010.
Q: What are the top overall goals for Goshen Health System in 2010?A: In terms of overall goals, we are looking at three key service areas to expand in 2010 based on various forms of feedback from physicians, patients and community members. Goshen will offer highly-specialized wound care, which will be particularly beneficial to our diabetic patients. A new wound clinic will open in December 2009. We are also looking to expand our cardiovascular program by working with our cardiologists to continue to develop our cardiology services. Finally, we are looking at the community's needs for obstetric and gynecological services.
Q: How will your system go about reaching these goals?
A: In order to expand those areas, we certainly will need to focus on physician recruitment. We also have immediate recruitment needs in our oncology program and in pediatrics. We're also focusing on our market share. We are seeing where our patients are going for their care and seeing how we can meet those needs locally. This need for local services is directly linked to the service lines we are planning to expand.
Q. What will be the biggest financial challenge for your system in 2010?
A: The biggest issue is the dreadful economy in our community. Elkhart County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. In addition, the three counties in the state with the highest unemployment rates are in our service area. There are a lot of uninsured patients in our community because of the unemployment problem. The biggest challenge is protecting our profit margin while continuing to meet the needs of our community members when their ability to pay is lower. Regardless, Goshen is committed to overcome this daunting task.
Q: How will Goshen deal with the need to protect profit margins while continuing to provide care for a growing number of patients in need?
A: Our colleague population (editor's note: Goshen refers to all employees as 'colleagues') never ceases to amaze me in their ability to accept our challenges and exceed our expectations. Because of delayed elective procedures due to the economy, lower volumes in 2009 are a huge challenge for Goshen. We asked our colleagues to implement ideas and streamline processes to save the organization $3.5 million, and as of September, they have already generated $3.9 million in annualized savings. We are dedicated to our colleagues and are concentrating on improving processes by working closely with physicians and other healthcare providers in the area to provide the exceptional care in the best way possible.
Q: If you could make one thing happen for Goshen in 2010, what would it be?
A: If our local economy continues to improve — the unemployment rate is now down from 19 percent earlier this year to16 percent — it would have a large domino effect for Goshen. When a person's inflow of money is tight, you put off medical care including elective procedures. If the economy bounces back, the citizens of our community could get the care they really need. The effect on our hospital would be quite large. It would also take some of the stress off our colleagues who have voluntarily agreed to certain deferrals to keep our health system viable during these challenging times.
Learn more about Goshen Health System.