Guy Medaglia
Q&A with Guy Medaglia, Saint Anthony Hospital President and CEO
May 05, 2017
by Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor
HealthCare Business News recently had the opportunity to speak with Guy Medaglia, president and CEO of Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago. Medaglia provided insight on the unique approach his facility is taking to serve patients and to meet the needs of the surrounding community.
HCB News: What inspired you to get into health care?
GM: I was working for FTI, a consulting firm. I went into the health care division to run performance improvement projects. I helped organizations that needed to improve their financials. A client owned Saint Anthony Hospital and was in the process of trying to sell the hospital. When they weren’t able to, they thought about closing it and asked me to come in while they figured out what to do. Having grown up in a similar community, I got in and got to know the people.
After the first year there, I took it from losing $12 million to making a small margin, and this was by adding people, not downsizing. We developed a self-pay plan to make us reasonable and competitive and grew the business. Our performance continued to improve and it was taken off the market. I went to the board and told them they could do better on their own and the rest is history. In the long term, I told them we’re not going to succeed in the old building. I told them they needed to build a new hospital, and from there we developed Chicago Southwest Development Corporation. The hospital will pay rent on a mixed-use property. The property will include retail tenants, day care, vocational schools, a rec center and more. It was developed through working with community leaders and then bringing in outside firms to do research and identify what the community really needs. Everything from access to better health care to education to recreation.
HCB News: What’s your timeline on the move to the new space?
GM: We’re scheduled for move-in by 2021. We’re already working with partners. The city sold us property for $1, then we bought some property and we’re getting the last bit of property worked out. We’re also working with Washington and the EPA on what needs to be done to the property.
HCB News: How long have you been with Saint Anthony?
GM: I came on in 2010.
HCB News: How invested is the staff? Does the mission you’re on attract them and keep them excited?
GM: Staff is passionate about what they do here and find success in treating the health challenges our patients and families face. Our mission has also helped me to bring the staff I need on board. It’s helped us to recruit out of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, as well as nationally such as Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. I was able to show we offer competitive pay, and the innovative campus has helped me to develop other partnerships, as well.
HCB News: What challenges does Saint Anthony face?
GM: The state hasn’t had a budget in two years, so payments are slow, and claim denials have increased. However, we implemented strategies for growing volume, improving efficiencies, lowering expenses and finding cost savings.
HCB News: How has your facility done with transitioning from fee-for-service to outcome-based models of reimbursement?
GM: The real challenge was that we relied on private physicians. So we didn’t have those salaries to pay. They got the professional fee. We got the facility fee. The model shifted and we hired primary care doctors. We took a risk and partnered with Federally Qualified Healthcare Clinics, then partnered on the specialty side with the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System and the University of Chicago Medicine. We did a good job up until January, when people got concerned with deportation. Very sick people don’t want to leave the house. So we’ve been working with local churches and holding town meetings to figure out how to take care of patients worried about being deported.
HCB News: What opportunities are available and how are you building on them?
GM: One thing we’re doing, several years ago, we looked to a new clinic model. We have a 15-chair dialysis center. The population base needs it. The next clinic will be a surgery center. We’re in negotiations with a bank to have an education center about how to do proper banking. It’s a matter of understanding what the community needs and then going about meeting those needs.
HCB News: Do you have any predictions about how your facility will be different in 10 years?
GM: There’s going to be an increased use of technology to provide care and reduce labor costs. At the end of the day, it’s going to be about innovation, whether that innovation comes about through robotics, or as I feel, something beyond. I am also looking forward to the hospital’s new, innovative facility on the new Focal Point Community Campus in development by Chicago Southwest Development Corporation. It will be the first hospital that I know of that’s renting instead of building its own place.
HCB News: What inspired you to get into health care?
GM: I was working for FTI, a consulting firm. I went into the health care division to run performance improvement projects. I helped organizations that needed to improve their financials. A client owned Saint Anthony Hospital and was in the process of trying to sell the hospital. When they weren’t able to, they thought about closing it and asked me to come in while they figured out what to do. Having grown up in a similar community, I got in and got to know the people.
After the first year there, I took it from losing $12 million to making a small margin, and this was by adding people, not downsizing. We developed a self-pay plan to make us reasonable and competitive and grew the business. Our performance continued to improve and it was taken off the market. I went to the board and told them they could do better on their own and the rest is history. In the long term, I told them we’re not going to succeed in the old building. I told them they needed to build a new hospital, and from there we developed Chicago Southwest Development Corporation. The hospital will pay rent on a mixed-use property. The property will include retail tenants, day care, vocational schools, a rec center and more. It was developed through working with community leaders and then bringing in outside firms to do research and identify what the community really needs. Everything from access to better health care to education to recreation.
HCB News: What’s your timeline on the move to the new space?
GM: We’re scheduled for move-in by 2021. We’re already working with partners. The city sold us property for $1, then we bought some property and we’re getting the last bit of property worked out. We’re also working with Washington and the EPA on what needs to be done to the property.
HCB News: How long have you been with Saint Anthony?
GM: I came on in 2010.
HCB News: How invested is the staff? Does the mission you’re on attract them and keep them excited?
GM: Staff is passionate about what they do here and find success in treating the health challenges our patients and families face. Our mission has also helped me to bring the staff I need on board. It’s helped us to recruit out of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, as well as nationally such as Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. I was able to show we offer competitive pay, and the innovative campus has helped me to develop other partnerships, as well.
HCB News: What challenges does Saint Anthony face?
GM: The state hasn’t had a budget in two years, so payments are slow, and claim denials have increased. However, we implemented strategies for growing volume, improving efficiencies, lowering expenses and finding cost savings.
HCB News: How has your facility done with transitioning from fee-for-service to outcome-based models of reimbursement?
GM: The real challenge was that we relied on private physicians. So we didn’t have those salaries to pay. They got the professional fee. We got the facility fee. The model shifted and we hired primary care doctors. We took a risk and partnered with Federally Qualified Healthcare Clinics, then partnered on the specialty side with the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System and the University of Chicago Medicine. We did a good job up until January, when people got concerned with deportation. Very sick people don’t want to leave the house. So we’ve been working with local churches and holding town meetings to figure out how to take care of patients worried about being deported.
HCB News: What opportunities are available and how are you building on them?
GM: One thing we’re doing, several years ago, we looked to a new clinic model. We have a 15-chair dialysis center. The population base needs it. The next clinic will be a surgery center. We’re in negotiations with a bank to have an education center about how to do proper banking. It’s a matter of understanding what the community needs and then going about meeting those needs.
HCB News: Do you have any predictions about how your facility will be different in 10 years?
GM: There’s going to be an increased use of technology to provide care and reduce labor costs. At the end of the day, it’s going to be about innovation, whether that innovation comes about through robotics, or as I feel, something beyond. I am also looking forward to the hospital’s new, innovative facility on the new Focal Point Community Campus in development by Chicago Southwest Development Corporation. It will be the first hospital that I know of that’s renting instead of building its own place.