🔒After latest bankruptcy, Johnson Memorial looks for fresh start

Q&A talks with Stuart Rosenberg, the recently named president of Johnson Memorial Medical Center, which has emerged from bankruptcy and been acquired by Michigan-based Trinity Health.

Q: You've been appointed president of Johnson Memorial Medical Center after being interim president for two years. What are some of your short-term goals for the organization?

A: Our short-term goals are to preserve and continue to provide health care for this community and its population. Since emerging from bankruptcy we will continue to stabilize the financial condition of Johnson Memorial given the reimbursement challenges facing all hospitals at the local and national levels. However, by joining with a larger healthcare system, Johnson will lose its entitlement to the funding as a small hospital under the current state guidelines.

Johnson Memorial plans to stabilize itself as part of the larger Trinity Health – New England system. The next goal is to continue on our pathway to advancing our safety goals. Treating our population by being a high-quality, low-cost provider is very important to our overall mission.

Over the last two years as interim CEO we focused on stabilizing Johnson Memorial's financial position along with facility infrastructure improvements, regulatory compliance and IT upgrades. Our goal was to prepare Johnson to be part of a larger system of care.

Q: You're in an area with relatively close proximity to Hartford and Springfield. What roles do small community hospitals like Johnson Memorial play? Can the healthcare system afford community hospitals outside urban and large suburban areas?

A: Becoming part of Trinity Health – New England, which already includes Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. and St. Francis Hospital Medical Center, as a region, we will be providing care for all our populations. The care that we can provide locally makes absolute sense. The confidence comes with knowing that the other hospitals can provide services that Johnson Memorial can't perform locally. You have to look at the region as a whole. I think there is enough business if you start looking at the population we serve from Union to Suffield and add some periphery towns in Massachusetts, Willington and Tolland. The population expects to have access to health care locally.

With the Trinity Health – New England brand, we believe the community will shift its confidence back to Johnson Memorial. We will have services like urology and teleneurology that we didn't offer before. As the new region takes shape there will be additional physician specialty coverage. It's going to open up some opportunities we didn't have as an independent small community hospital. This gives us more access to 24/7 coverage that we didn't have. You're also going to see telehealth expand in the future.

Q: In the last eight years, Johnson Memorial twice filed for bankruptcy. How's the outlook for the hospital going forward after the merger? What's going to be different?

A: The fact that you're not in bankruptcy comes with an advantage in terms of financial strength. The second bankruptcy we had to file so we could complete the acquisition by Trinity Health. Unlike 2008, the financials continue to be in a different position.

Our debt has been restructured and lowered. The structure is a lot different, providing us with financial opportunities. It will give us strength to position us to more favorably negotiate in the marketplace. We're going to have collective strengths we didn't have historically. The brand of Trinity Health – New England will mean a lot to the Johnson Memorial community as it becomes part of the larger healthcare system.

Q: How difficult is it recruiting doctors and other healthcare professionals to your hospital?

A: We've had some challenges in the past in recruiting physicians from some of the specialties. Not everybody wants to be this far away from tertiary centers and access to the best technology. Now with the Trinity Health – New England system coming together, we're able to provide advanced educational opportunities and access to technology. Having that advantage allows us to become more attractive as a healthcare provider.

Q: What are some misperceptions about a smaller hospital like yours? How do you overcome them?

A: We had the unfortunate experience of being in bankruptcy. Not only are we small, but before 2012 we were non-affiliated and we were coming out of bankruptcy. We were very close to closing our doors. Since affiliating with St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in 2012, it has changed the brand of Johnson Memorial. We have improved the quality care by being linked to a large tertiary care hospital.

Now we have the ability to provide the care here safely and with the highest quality. Johnson will advance the quality standards as subscribed by the Trinity Health – New England system. The quality benchmarks of Trinity Health will add significant value to the level of care provided at Johnson. If you come to Johnson for emergency services and need to be transferred to a higher level of care we now have the same electronic health record that can be accessed at St. Francis Hospital. From a patient and physician perspective this is very valuable.

The misconception that smaller hospitals serve limited purposes is simply a misnomer. n

Read more

Ibrahim uses data to reshape healthcare delivery

New St. Francis parent refinancing $246M in debt

Scheinblum provides care, comfort to cancer patients

Tips for a successful crowdsourcing campaign

Transportation focuses on engineering innovation