Connecticut Children’s Medical Center CEO Jim Shmerling is decidedly upbeat about the year he and his 187-bed hospital had in 2016.
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Connecticut Children's Medical Center CEO Jim Shmerling is decidedly upbeat about the year he and his 187-bed hospital had in 2016.
Recapping the last 12 months in a recent interview, Shmerling, who moved to Connecticut from his home state of Tennessee just over a year ago to start his new gig, reported that the hospital grew patient revenues and cut expenses without resorting to layoffs or eliminating programs.
Better yet, Connecticut Children's (CCMC) even booked an approximately $6 million operating surplus for the year ended Sept. 30, topping a $4.3 million surplus in 2015 and a $31.7 million operating deficit in 2014.
“I think it's been a terrific year,” Shmerling said. “We continue to cut costs across the hospital. We've tried to eliminate waste.”
CCMC also recently revived affiliation talks with Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, which has 201 beds. Shmerling said the talks are on an aggressive timetable, with the hope of cementing a formal partnership by Oct. 2017.
Evaluating the merits of a partnership with Yale was among Shmerling's top charges when the board of directors hired him.
“We're looking for economies of scale because we have duplicative overhead,” he said, adding that the intent is not to eliminate jobs.
Though CCMC and Yale are the largest pediatric hospitals in Connecticut, they may not be large enough on their own to compete with major hospitals in Boston, Shmerling said.
“The average children's hospital is 300-plus beds,” he said. “If we wanted to create a fellowship program to train pediatric specialists, we are both too small.”
Another one of Shmerling's aims for his first year was to build up the hospital's foundation, which appointed a new president, David Kinahan, shortly after Shmerling arrived.
Things appear to be going well so far. The Children's foundation raised a record $13.5 million for the year, capped off by a record $1.1 million raised at its annual fundraising gala in November.
Other accomplishments in 2016 include helping relocate to Connecticut a Florida-based program for children with Glycogen Storage Disease, recruiting 16 new doctors, and taking over two pediatric offices previously operated by UConn Health.
