Bassett CEO Talks Financial Turnaround

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

After what Bassett Healthcare Network has described as a turnaround from a $60 million negative margin in 2023 to a projected positive margin for 2025, President and Chief Executive Officer Staci Thompson sat for a wide-ranging interview with AllOtsego about what went into making it happen, and what to expect in the future.

Thompson, who took on the job in 2024, attributed the turnaround to “a lot of discipline and a lot of the organization coming together to really understand that no opportunity was too small to address.”

She said it involved standardizing certain supplies, ensuring appropriate reimbursement to the organization, receipt of grants and donations.

“When we looked at [it], we had to kind of do an $80 million turnaround,” Thompson said. Around half of that “came from the growth revenue, making sure we’re getting paid for what we’re doing, getting more patients in. And then the other half came from things like expense improvement.”

She also cited a “last resort” “modest reduction in force” of around 100 non-bedside employees in October 2024, of which she said approximately 20 percent have been rehired. Thompson said it was something “I would not reach to again, because we don’t cut our way to success.”

With six hospitals and more than 30 regional health centers across an eight-county region, Bassett is a critical component of local healthcare infrastructure.

“The whole point of being a not-for-profit is to make money to reinvest in the organization,” Thompson said. “So any money that we make really goes into, and will go into, being able to provide capital equipment, to be able to upgrade our IT, to be able to invest in our facilities.”

Multiple recent letters to the editor in “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta” newspapers have expressed concern about the organization’s financial health. A Bassett spokesperson said the latest financial documents projecting the positive margin were not yet available for public review, but would be accessible following an ongoing audit.

Thompson said one of the largest growing expenses was wages.

“The cost of hiring people to come work at Bassett compared to, say, 10 years ago, has grown really exponentially,” she pointed out.

Previously, Thompson said, Bassett had a wide range of vendors for agency staffing, employees who are contracted out. Now, moving toward “more of an exclusive arrangement,” Bassett was able to negotiate better prices and “pull $12 million out of agency spend.” In the future, Thompson said she hopes to reduce the reliance on agency staffing altogether.

Bassett has also sought to expand its services. One of the focuses of the organization’s strategic plan, Thompson said, is on growing orthopedic, cardiovascular and oncology services.

“That is all about being able to offer patients appointments when they need it,” Thompson said, citing some patients’ frustration with wait times.

“We’re trying to have the future where people who need a primary care appointment or specialty appointment can have them during the same week,” Thompson said.

Expanding in these areas, she said, allows for fewer transfers out of the Bassett network. A team meets twice a week to look at every case that was transferred out of network and assess what could be done to keep them in-network in the future, she explained.

Thompson said she believes the financial turnaround will also make Bassett a more appealing grant recipient.

“A lot of what the state has to do in other areas, particularly in some areas downstate, is they have to write checks to keep the organization literally from closing its doors, paying its bills in order to allow it to pay salaries,” Thompson said. “So to be in that position where we do what we say we’re going to do, use the state’s money that, thankfully, they have given to us, and to show that we have achieved what we said we were going to achieve will yield positive intent, positive funding going forward.”