by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | November 06, 2018
From the November 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
HCB News: I know you’ve had a great history of fiscal responsibility during your time running the hospital, so I’m sure you’ve had a handle on getting officially designated as a children’s hospital. Were there any moments where you had concerns or any speedbumps that slowed you on the way?
GM: The state was pretty good about it. Honestly, what made a difference – when the state started to see in the Chicago area multiple hospitals closing their pediatric department, the timing was right. Our chairman of pediatrics is also an intensivist and that helped. When we told the state of the partnership with University of Chicago and they talked with the university about what the model was, the university told them it was a new day and that sometimes, you have to go out to the people. By having this partnership, it allows the university to go out into the community.
HCB News: How long were you in planning for that process?
GM: We started working with the University of Chicago first. Before we went to the state, we wanted to make sure we had almost a vertically integrated model. The chairman of that department and ours worked very closely to make sure it was a vertically integrated process. It was at least eight months that we had been working together prior to going to the state. We felt we had a good history to back us too. Since 2010 we’ve been independent. With the exception of one year where the governor hadn’t put together a budget and no one got paid and had to write a loss, every year since 2008 we’ve reported positive earnings. But we’ve evolved. We went to the community to learn what their needs were, put out RFPs to partners. Some worked, some didn’t. The partners we work with now don’t ask what the patient’s insurance is – they ask what the medical issue is. We explain it, transfer it over. Those are great partners, those are partners that want to be part of the community.
HCB News: What did Saint Anthony’s need to do to get that designation?
GM: The good news was, by the time we went to the state, a lot of changes had already occurred. We had the residency program in place, we had the labor and delivery changes in place, and we presented the whole thing to them.
HCB News: Were there staffing additions or was staff already in place?
