Rotary hears from Dooley

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SIDNEY — Mark Dooley, president and CEO of Wilson Health, talked about his prior experience, today’s health-care environment, Wilson Health, and potential future expansion when he addressed the Sidney Rotary Club, Dec. 12.

Dooley began by emphasizing Wilson Health’s continued desire to remain an independent hospital and why that is important for not only Wilson Health, but the community, as well. Dooley explained that it is tough for small, independent health systems like Wilson in today’s environment because of pressures including pricing, having less bargaining power compared to larger health systems, added competition, and costs of additional needed capital.

“There are about 1,800 hospitals across the country that are stand-alone, independent systems. About 1,300 of those 1,800 are very similar to Wilson Health,” he said. There is potential for mergers with a lot of those systems, but Wilson Health in not interested in merging, he added. “About 80 percent of our business comes from Shelby County or areas very close to Shelby County,” Dooley said.

Wilson Health needs to focus on things Wilson Health is able to do, and do them to the best of its ability, he said. Dooley then discussed partnerships with other hospitals.

“Partnerships, really for hospitals like ours, are a necessity now. It’s not pick and choose if we want to partner, it’s whom do we want to partner with,” he said, to provide access certain higher-level services in Sidney. He emphasized that being in a partnership does not mean Wilson is being acquired by another larger health system.

“For cardiology, we have two partnerships, One with Kettering and one with Lima Memorial. Between those two, we have about the equivalent of three full-time cardiologists,” he said.

Dooley also discussed the pressures of controlling cost structure.

“In 2014, we brought the lean process improvement concepts into Wilson Health,” he said. Although each patient has individual needs, there are certain aspects of treatment that can be standardized to help streamline processes.

During the meeting, the Rotary Club inducted four new members: Jason McClain, director of food operations for Sidney City Schools; Karla Young, assistant director of the Wilson Health Foundation; Chris Barr, principal of Sidney Middle School; and Dooley.

Staff report

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