MetroHealth’s new CEO, Airica Steed, seeks to narrow healthcare disparities as the Cleveland-based nonprofit health system restructures following the firing of its former chief executive.
Steed, a former president of Mount Sinai and Sinai Children’s Hospital and chief executive officer of Sinai Chicago, the city’s largest private safety net health system, begins his role as CEO. by MetroHealth on December 5.
She started the job about a month earlier than expected after an investigation revealed that former MetroHealth CEO Dr Akram Boutros transferred more than $1.9 million in additional bonuses to her. for a period of 4 years without the knowledge of the board of directors. Boutros returned $2.1 million on October 31 and was fired on November 21. Boutros has since filed multiple lawsuits with the Cuyahoga County General Claims Court, accusing the board administration violated the Ohio Open Meetings Act in hiring a successor, wrongful termination, and defamation. MetroHealth denies the allegations. Cases are pending.
Steed plans to develop similar programs in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County as she did in West Chicago, both areas serving a high percentage of Medicare and Medicaid patients in markets anchored by the US. academic safety net system. Some of those planned initiatives include free non-emergency transportation, virtual call centers that coordinate outpatient care, and outpatient care integration in projects. affordable, multi-purpose housing development.
MetroHealth must strike a balance between establishing programs, expanding existing services, retaining key employees and executives amid a national labor shortage, and regaining the trust of the community as a third-party investigator reviews and helps modify the system’s internal policies, Steed said.
“The scandal raised alarm bells and required us to strengthen many of our core protocols and processes to ensure that as a public health system we are a trusted entity. trust,” she said. “MetroHealth, like every other health system across the country, is not protected from what is happening to the workforce. Finding balance for those headwinds is a must for us.
Steed also plans to build on MetroHealth’s workforce development programs, one of which is the Lincoln-West School of Health and Science, a hospital-based high school that combines traditional curriculum with Interactive learning in healthcare environments. MetroHealth also has science, technology, engineering, and math programs included in high schools in the area.
“We need to plant the seeds early for minority representation in the healthcare industry to deepen,” says Steed.
Steed said MetroHealth’s stable financial position has helped it invest in capital projects, noting the $42 million behavioral health hospital that opened in Northeast Ohio last month. 10. The 112-bed facility provides treatment for bipolar disorder, depression, addiction, and mood disorders.
For the first nine months of MetroHealth’s fiscal year ended September 30, the system reported $24.3 million in operating income on $1.15 billion in operating revenue. It had $76.8 million in operating income on $1.11 billion in operating revenue during the same period last year.
MetroHealth has 175 cash days as of September 30. Similar-rated nonprofit systems have 190 average cash days in 2021, according to Moody’s Investor Services.
“I cannot stress how excited I am to lead and how proud I am to be the first Black and the first female nurse to lead this 185-year-old institution,” said Steed. “I strongly believe in what the future holds.”
