CEO Insider – Fall 2024 Newsletter

NEW SERIES – CEO INSIDER

Over the next several issues of the IHA quarterly newsletter, we will feature CEOs from each of the five Regions that make up our membership (i.e., Capital District, North Country, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier, and Central New York).

This quarter, we introduce you to our CEOs from the Southern Tier:

• John Carrigg, President and CEO at United Health Services, Inc. (UHS)
• Rolland V. Bojo, Jr. “Boomer”, President and CEO at UHS-Delaware Valley Hospital

We asked our Southern Tier CEOs the following questions:

1. What are the most important issues your organization is focusing on in 2024 and beyond?
2. What are the top three traits you look for in building your executive team?
3. How is running a hospital in Upstate/Rural NY the same or different than elsewhere in NYS or in other States?
4. When thinking about building partnerships in your community, whether with other health care providers or social care providers, what issues do you consider most important?
5. As a leader in Upstate/Rural New York, what are your proudest achievements and or future goals for your organization?
6. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Upstate/Rural New York healthcare?
7. If resources were plentiful, what services or programming would you prioritize in service to your patients and community?

Here’s what they had to say…

John Carrigg, President and CEO at United Health Services, Inc.

1. What are the most important issues your organization is focusing on in 2024 and beyond?  It is critically important for us to focus on workforce recruitment and retention, as our patient population ages, requiring more services, and demands on hospitals and healthcare systems increase.  We are continually seeking to improve access to care for patients in our community, especially those requiring behavioral health care.  In addition, we have stepped up our efforts in to further address equity and the social determinants of health and well-being.

2.  What are the top three traits you look for in building your executive team? The key traits are: 1) Commitment to our organizational values of compassion, trust, respect, teamwork and innovation.  We seek leaders who live these values every day, in every interaction with our patients, employees and physicians.  2)  A mindset of collaboration with all stakeholders, particularly with our medical staff.  3)  A commitment to personal and professional accountability and to team-building with all employees.

3.  How is running a hospital in upstate/rural New York the same as or different from elsewhere in New York State or other states? In addition to serving the more urban populations within Broome County, we likewise serve a rural population across a wide, multi-county area of New York’s Southern Tier.  People in these rural communities have unique needs and challenges:  In many cases, our facilities are their key lifeline to medical services, and we are their bridge from healthcare to social services.  We have dedicated ourselves to building lasting connections and to supporting, with enhanced efforts, such needs as transportation and food and housing security.

4.  When thinking about building partnerships in your community, whether with other healthcare providers or social care providers, what issues do you consider most important? Community benefit organizations outside of UHS are vital partners with us as we continue to create better pathways for our patients to get all the health and social services they need.

5.  As a leader in upstate/rural New York, what are your proudest achievements and/or future goals for your organization? In 2020, in the midst of all the challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we succeeded in installing Epic, the nation’s top electronic health record system, greatly enhancing the patient experience.  In keeping with our commitment to continually improve access to care, in 2024 we opened the UHS Wilson Main Tower in Johnson City, essentially a new hospital for the Southern Tier, featuring a new emergency and trauma center, MRI and 120 private patient rooms.  During 2023 and 2024 we greatly expanded our pharmacy service to provide a new specialty pharmacy and the metro area’s only 24/7 retail pharmacy, adjacent to our UHS Wilson Medical Center campus.  In addition, we opened a state-of-the art child care center, accessible by both our own employees and the community at large.  We have recently expanded our teaching hospital status by implementing graduate medical education residency and fellowship programs in psychiatry, cardiology and gastroenterology.  Following our leadership role as a patient care provider and regional vaccination hub during the pandemic, we have emerged stronger from the crisis, with a much greater role in public health than ever before for the communities we serve.

6.  What do you think are the biggest challenges facing upstate/rural New York healthcare? We work diligently to ensure that our member healthcare organizations receive their fair share of state resources, including allocated capital from the New York State Department of Health.  We strive to keep healthcare students upstate as they begin their clinical careers.  And finally, so that needed medical services can be provided close to home for residents of our community, we also focus on attracting primary care and specialty care physicians and advanced practice providers to our region.

7.  If resources were plentiful, what services or programming would you prioritize in service to your patients and community? We would continue to champion more and deeper behavioral health services, such as more comprehensive and earlier intervention for the delivery of adolescent psychiatry and addiction treatment services.  We would like to see a sharper focus on the needs of senior citizens, with more and better coordination of services for those suffering with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.  Ever-better access to primary care in rural areas is critically needed, as many patients currently must travel 25 miles or more to see a clinician.