By William D. McGuire
President and Chief Executive Officer
Kaleida Health
(Op Ed from the Buffalo News, 2/17/2002)
COLLABORATION KEY TO KALEIDA’S FUTURE
One aspect of Buffalo in particular has struck me profoundly during my first week here: the people in this community care passionately about their hospitals and their health care providers. This a tremendous asset, and one that we at Kaleida will build upon.
I took this job knowing a lot of work needed to be done to rebuild the community’s trust in Kaleida. One of the reasons we are in this current situation is that this family of hospitals has been relatively dysfunctional since they got together. This needs to be remedied.
I have spent the majority of my time here so far listening to the superb physicians and dedicated staff who care so deeply about health care in Western New York. This dialogue will continue.
While I have accepted the challenge of leading Western New York’s largest health care system through a bold turnaround, I also look forward to moving with my wife Nancy into a friendly, culturally rich community with deep traditions. Our best friends in San Antonio are from Buffalo, in fact Brent’s mother still lives here. From what we’ve heard from them – and indeed from all those from Buffalo I’ve had the chance to meet -- we are very excited to make our new home here.
I’ve faced turnaround challenges before and know what it takes to get the job done: collaboration, compromise, urgency and accountability. I am committed to making this work, but I cannot do it alone. Creating a healthier Kaleida will require commitment at every level of the organization and also from our physician partners and the community as a whole.
I know that we will not win support by demanding it. We must earn it. We must engage in dialogue with our stakeholders, not debate them. We must find common ground and agree on mutual wants and needs. We know that we all want to maintain a nationally respected Children’s Hospital. We all want the children in our community to receive top quality pediatric care. And we want our hospitals to have the resources necessary to invest in great people, new equipment, and the latest technology. We must build upon this common ground.
Let me be clear to all concerned: The Children’s Hospital of Buffalo is not closing. Closing Children’s has never been a consideration. Our consultant’s recommendation is to relocate Children’s, not close it.
Next, let me address the question of whether or not Kaleida’s consultant’s report can be released to the public. While making the report public might be a quick and easy way to quell critics, it would also be irresponsible on the part of Kaleida. If made widely available, some of the information in the report could compromise Kaleida’s ability to negotiate with insurers and compete with other health systems. That said, all information requested by the Children’s Hospital pediatricians and their consultant – including market share and demographic information, as well as all information specifically related to the possible relocation of Children’s Hospital -- has been provided. Next week I’ll also be meeting with other physicians in our system who could be impacted by possible facility changes, to share relevant pieces of the report with them. We have also provided a summary of the consultant’s report to key stakeholders and the media and made it available on our Web site.
We are beginning a new chapter for the region’s largest health care system. It will take a high degree of collaboration and mutual respect to make the changes necessary to advance the quality of care throughout Kaleida while we improve our collective performance. Above all, we must continue to stay focused on delivering the best care to the patient.
