New CEO of Healdsburg District Hospital in Sonoma County reveals priorities for weathering the coronavirus impacts

On May 11, veteran health care administrator James Schuessler officially became the new CEO at Healdsburg District Hospital, replacing the now-retired Joseph Harrington.

Schuessler most recently served as interim CEO at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch in Contra Costa County. Over the course of his career, he has frequently consulted and served at hospitals on an interim basis to lead efforts in identifying operational inefficiencies, resolving financial challenges and improving patient satisfaction.

Schuessler joins the hospital amid a pandemic and with a lot of work ahead of him. That includes trying to get to know his colleagues, neighbors and the community while all are wearing masks and remaining socially distant. The Business Journal interviewed Schuessler on June 1. The following Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity.

What are some of your top priorities?

I really have two separate buckets of responsibilities. One revolves around working with my colleagues at the hospital and the clinics to improve our operation and respond to the dramatic loss of revenue that we've experienced as a result of COVID-19.

At the same time, the district has been in on-again, off-again discussions for quite some time about the prospect of finding a senior partner that can help the district, the hospital and clinics meet some of their long-term objectives and capital needs.

I spend time with each of those buckets of responsibilities every day. But I would say the financial circumstances that has been precipitated by COVID-19 and our inability to operate our operating rooms up until very, very recently has been top of mind every morning.

We spoke with Joe Harrington on April 22 after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced surgeries deemed non-emergent could resume. He expressed relief that the hospital was cleared to bring back “a much-needed revenue stream.”

That is correct and we have organized a process to do that, which focuses on patient and staff safety. All of the patients that come to us through their doctor's appointment process for surgery have a screening conducted in advance of their surgery, and that includes having a test for COVID-19. The turnaround time on those tests is now down to give-or-take 48 hours. So we're able to do that fairly efficiently. And the volume in our surgical department is increasing rather dramatically.

You've done a lot of work turning around hospitals that have had financial troubles. What do you have in mind for Healdsburg District Hospital beyond getting the surgeries and procedures going again?

We have a significant gap between our expenses on an ongoing basis and our revenue run-rate. Getting that gap closed is really what our whole team is focusing on right now. That includes increasing revenue, and we talked about how important increasing surgical volume is to that. It's also a question of looking for opportunities to consolidate roles and ultimately to move forward with a more efficient operating budget than we have had the luxury of working with in the past.

So, to a certain extent, the short-term pain that the COVID-19 revenue reduction has placed on us will allow us to emerge on the other side of that with a slightly leaner and more sustainable organization on the expense side.

Are you planning layoffs as part of the consolidation of roles?

We're not. We're looking for ways in which we can utilize our existing workforce more effectively. Right now, we don't have enough work for everyone. We do have a significant number of persons who are furloughed. That was actually an action taken prior to the time I arrived. (Editor's note: The hospital currently employs 386 people, of which 51 are furloughed. The furlough was set to last until June 1, but the hospital's circumstances haven't yet changed, resulting in the furloughs possibly being extended until July 31.)

What is the status of the partnership with St. Joseph Health? Those talks were expected to be finalized more than a year ago, but fell apart as a result of the Attorney General's rejecting the proposed joint operating company between St. Joseph Health and Adventist Health.

The current memorandum of understanding that provides the outline for the discussions are taking place right now. It was signed by both parties in March of this year.

Anything that the parties may agree to is all going to be subject to approval by the voters in the district. We have an August deadline, by which time any proposal that would go on to the ballot for November would have to be submitted through to the county.

We're talking about really needing to have an agreement completed at the management and working-group level by the middle of July. We've got a lot of work to do in a very short period of time.

You've done a lot of consulting and served in interim-CEO roles. What attracted you to this permanent CEO position?

What I've found is that although I enjoyed consulting and, frankly, it's not as demanding work and pays a little better, it's not as satisfying as working with a team and accomplishing implementation of well-thought-out strategies for improvement, as opposed to just being the expert that comes in and helps create the plan.

How is it going getting familiar and settled in your new home and work environment?

We talk about the new people needing to put name and face together. Well, I've got news for you. At the hospital, it's name and one-third of a face because everyone's got a mask on. I think my learning curve on who is who and exactly what their role is here and how I can help them, is probably a lot steeper than it would otherwise be.

Staff Writer Cheryl Sarfaty covers tourism, hospitality, health care and education. Reach her at cheryl.sarfaty@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4259.

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