Gwen MacKenzie knew Sarasota Memorial Health CareSystem was a great organization when she joined as presidentand CEO in May 2005, despite the fact that it was losing asmuch as $30 million a year.
The focus of the 4,500-employee organization had been solely to provide good patient care and services, while the financial aspects weren’t always a priority. Everyone assumed thatas big and strong as the organization was, it would be aroundforever.
Yet, behind the curtain, things weren’t as rosy as manythought.
Many employees, including doctors, didn’t know the organization was losing money because the focus wasn’t on thefinances.
“But my position was, it doesn’t go on forever by chance,”she says. “It goes on forever with good solid performance. Myfocus was more performance-based. If we do a good job andmonitor our patient satisfaction, if we have people who like towork here and understand what we are trying to do forpatients, then the financial results will follow.”
Along with shifting attention to data and finances,MacKenzie had to get everyone on the same page and startcommunication between departments. She let everyoneknow how much the organization was losing and why theyneeded to turn things around to keep moving forward.
“You always have to sort of get it to a common understanding, and that shouldn’t be that dissimilar from group to group,including the doctors,” she says. “The common understanding was if we lose $30 million a year, we’re not going to beviable long term as an organization, and the communitycounts on us.”