March 17, 2008
Shop Talk: Managing Healthy Communities
Toni McGuire, a registered nurse, was named president and CEO of the Great Brook Valley Health Center in Worcester on Feb. 1. She came to the health center, which serves about 24,000 patients per year, after serving as the head of Manet Community Health Center in Quincy. Great Brook Valley has a $20 million annual budget and about 300 employees at locations in both Worcester and Framingham. Here, she talks about the new challenges she's found at Great Brook Valley as well as "friend-raising."
Sure sometimes, you always miss that. It's the fabric from which you come. Every once in a while I sit back and think 'I'd really like a patient's perspective on that.' It always helps me to make my decisions when I can connect with people who really seek the services themselves.
One of the things that we'll do very early on - because I'm a new executive and because it's also timely - is that we'll begin a full strategic planning process to decide what those initiatives should be. That strategic planning will include not only the board but the senior management staff, the staff of the health center and even folks in the community.
One of the biggest challenges at every community health center is financials and making sure the reimbursements that we are paid match the level of services that we provide. So, another area that I'm looking to develop is making sure that we have ways to grow community friends - "friend-raising" instead of fundraising - because the more people that know about us and the more influence we have in the community, the more people will be willing to open their pocketbooks up and even make small donations.
For a community health center like this one, we had a lot of patients that qualified for the free care pool in Massachusetts. Some of those patients don't necessarily qualify for receiving insurance through the Commonwealth Connector, perhaps because of immigration status. Because of that we still have a lot of patients that could fall through the cracks because they can't afford health insurance. But regardless, we will still take care of them.
The financial burden then falls to the health center, whereas before the burden was eased somewhat by the state helping us. Now, the upside of it is a lot of people have gotten access to a health insurance card, so there is the ability to connect with care. We're incrementally getting there, but we're not there completely..
You can't make everybody happy all the time. That's probably the biggest one. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions that are good for the direction of the organization that frankly all employees aren't really happy about. That's a hard one because employees really do work hard for organizations. But to be a really good, strong organization sometimes you have to make decisions and you have to be a decision-maker.
You started out your career as a registered nurse. Now that you're in health care administration, do you miss the daily interaction with patients?
Sure sometimes, you always miss that. It's the fabric from which you come. Every once in a while I sit back and think 'I'd really like a patient's perspective on that.' It always helps me to make my decisions when I can connect with people who really seek the services themselves.
Do you have any new initiatives on the books? Or are you still in fact-finding phase?
One of the things that we'll do very early on - because I'm a new executive and because it's also timely - is that we'll begin a full strategic planning process to decide what those initiatives should be. That strategic planning will include not only the board but the senior management staff, the staff of the health center and even folks in the community.
What are the biggest challenges that you face in this area of health care?
One of the biggest challenges at every community health center is financials and making sure the reimbursements that we are paid match the level of services that we provide. So, another area that I'm looking to develop is making sure that we have ways to grow community friends - "friend-raising" instead of fundraising - because the more people that know about us and the more influence we have in the community, the more people will be willing to open their pocketbooks up and even make small donations.
How much are you or do you expect to be affected by the state's health care reform? What is the impact on community health centers?
For a community health center like this one, we had a lot of patients that qualified for the free care pool in Massachusetts. Some of those patients don't necessarily qualify for receiving insurance through the Commonwealth Connector, perhaps because of immigration status. Because of that we still have a lot of patients that could fall through the cracks because they can't afford health insurance. But regardless, we will still take care of them.
That means you could have a budget shortfall?
The financial burden then falls to the health center, whereas before the burden was eased somewhat by the state helping us. Now, the upside of it is a lot of people have gotten access to a health insurance card, so there is the ability to connect with care. We're incrementally getting there, but we're not there completely..
What are the skills that you've picked up as a manager?
You can't make everybody happy all the time. That's probably the biggest one. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions that are good for the direction of the organization that frankly all employees aren't really happy about. That's a hard one because employees really do work hard for organizations. But to be a really good, strong organization sometimes you have to make decisions and you have to be a decision-maker.
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