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‘ONE BASSETT’

NOW A REALITY,

IBRAHIM SAYS

North-South Regions, Pay Cuts,

Layoffs Open Way To Profitability

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – “OneBassett” is here, Network President/CEO Tommy Ibrahim announced yesterday.

Ibrahim, who arrived in June from Integris Health Systems in Oklahoma, also announced the reorganization of the eight-county network is largely complete.  It creates a  North Region (Bassett and Little Falls hospitals) and a South Region (Cobleskill, Fox and O’Connor in Delhi).

And he announced “system executives” in the North (Bassett President Bill LeCates) and South (Cobleskill Regional Hospital Eric Stein) who, with a team of three vice presidents – for operations, medical affairs and nursing – will implement a  horizontal management structure aimed at achieving consistent levels of expertise across the region.

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“We are moving away from hospital-centric decision-making to a system focused on a continuum of care, expanded access to service and the best possible outcomes for our patients, no matter where the care is delivered,” said Ibrahim, in announcing the completion of the “OneBassett” infrastructure.

The announcement also included eliminating 41 positions by March, in addition to 15 leadership positions that have already been eliminated in the restructuring.  A network-wide program called SCORE (Securing Career Opportunities for Redeployed Employees) will seek to find places for those employees in the new structure.

The network executives will be taking 5-10 percent “voluntary reductions” in pay, with Ibrahim himself taking a 20 percent pay cut.

In an interview, Ibrahim said, with the reorganization and streamlining, the hospital network is projecting a balanced budget for 2021, and a return to profitability after that.  He said the network has operated in the red for the past four years.

Asked if the restructuring of the network from hospital-centric “silos” to a cross-network system based on areas of medical expertise was one of his successes as chief physician at Integris, he said yes.  But similar approaches are being implements in all successful hospital systems across the country, he added.