By Tracey Drury – Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Oct 11, 2022
The timing was perfect: Oct. 3 was Beth Hughes' first day as president at Buffalo General Medical Center. It also was the day Kaleida Health came to an agreement with union leaders on a new three-year contract, heading off a potential strike.
But the tough part comes next, assuming the 6,300-person union workforce ratifies the contract in the coming weeks, as Kaleida works to fill 500-plus jobs across the $2 billion system.
With more than 3,000 employees overseeing 484 patient beds, Buffalo General is Kaleida’s largest hospital and serves Erie County’s largest market share, with 20% of all inpatient visits during 2021.
Still, inpatient volume has declined from a high of 25,202 in 2018 to 22,634 in 2021 while outpatient volume attributed to Buff Gen dropped from 30,031 to 16,839 during the same period, according to patient volume reports filed with the State Department of Health.
Hughes said she’ll work to identify growth opportunities and possibly new or enhanced services lines based on the region’s demographics. She pointed to the aging population, a segment she was able to address with geriatric programs in New Hampshire and Chicago.
“It’s probably a bit presumptuous to jump into what Buffalo General or the (Gates) Vascular Institute need, but if you look at the demographics – which I have, there’s a growing elderly population, which is probably true across the country,” she said.
Hughes also recognizes, however, that she first needs to get to know the hospital and its staff before jumping in with any major changes.
“I’m looking forward to listening and learning and then acting,” she said.
Boosting volume is just one challenge among many when it comes to the financial realities of running a hospital in the post-Covid era. It’s a very different environment than it was just a few years ago, Hughes said, even for hospitals who were fortunate enough to have a bottom line to reinvest.
With a 30-year career in health care that includes senior leadership posts at hospitals across the Midwest and New England regions, most recently Sioux City, Iowa, Hughes has experienced lots of ups and downs in health care.
“The economics of health care, they just aren’t what they used to be,” she said. “The purpose of nonprofit health care is to take the profit and reinvest in the community through services and equipment. That has obviously gotten much more challenging as health care has hit an economic downtown.”
Hughes has some history in Buffalo, having spent two years as administrator of the cardiac program at Millard Fillmore Hospitals prior to the creation of Kaleida 30 years ago.
She wants to get to know both the Kaleida system and the region. She and her husband rented a townhouse on the waterfront downtown, putting her about 10 minutes from Buffalo General and the GVI.
A Chicago native, she says she was attracted to both the challenges and opportunities within the Kaleida system, where she feels certain she can make a positive difference.
“Honestly, it’s all about fit for me and the people you’re going to work with, whether you feel there’s a connection and you can bring value to an organization,” she said. “That to me was something that helped me solidify my decision to come to Buffalo. I think there are great opportunities where I can use my skills and my knowledge to advance Buffalo General and the Institute.”
Buffalo General Medical Center's new president hits the ground running - Buffalo Business First (bizjournals.com)
Oct 11, 2022
The timing was perfect: Oct. 3 was Beth Hughes' first day as president at Buffalo General Medical Center. It also was the day Kaleida Health came to an agreement with union leaders on a new three-year contract, heading off a potential strike.
But the tough part comes next, assuming the 6,300-person union workforce ratifies the contract in the coming weeks, as Kaleida works to fill 500-plus jobs across the $2 billion system.
With more than 3,000 employees overseeing 484 patient beds, Buffalo General is Kaleida’s largest hospital and serves Erie County’s largest market share, with 20% of all inpatient visits during 2021.
Still, inpatient volume has declined from a high of 25,202 in 2018 to 22,634 in 2021 while outpatient volume attributed to Buff Gen dropped from 30,031 to 16,839 during the same period, according to patient volume reports filed with the State Department of Health.
Hughes said she’ll work to identify growth opportunities and possibly new or enhanced services lines based on the region’s demographics. She pointed to the aging population, a segment she was able to address with geriatric programs in New Hampshire and Chicago.
“It’s probably a bit presumptuous to jump into what Buffalo General or the (Gates) Vascular Institute need, but if you look at the demographics – which I have, there’s a growing elderly population, which is probably true across the country,” she said.
Hughes also recognizes, however, that she first needs to get to know the hospital and its staff before jumping in with any major changes.
“I’m looking forward to listening and learning and then acting,” she said.
Boosting volume is just one challenge among many when it comes to the financial realities of running a hospital in the post-Covid era. It’s a very different environment than it was just a few years ago, Hughes said, even for hospitals who were fortunate enough to have a bottom line to reinvest.
With a 30-year career in health care that includes senior leadership posts at hospitals across the Midwest and New England regions, most recently Sioux City, Iowa, Hughes has experienced lots of ups and downs in health care.
“The economics of health care, they just aren’t what they used to be,” she said. “The purpose of nonprofit health care is to take the profit and reinvest in the community through services and equipment. That has obviously gotten much more challenging as health care has hit an economic downtown.”
Hughes has some history in Buffalo, having spent two years as administrator of the cardiac program at Millard Fillmore Hospitals prior to the creation of Kaleida 30 years ago.
She wants to get to know both the Kaleida system and the region. She and her husband rented a townhouse on the waterfront downtown, putting her about 10 minutes from Buffalo General and the GVI.
A Chicago native, she says she was attracted to both the challenges and opportunities within the Kaleida system, where she feels certain she can make a positive difference.
“Honestly, it’s all about fit for me and the people you’re going to work with, whether you feel there’s a connection and you can bring value to an organization,” she said. “That to me was something that helped me solidify my decision to come to Buffalo. I think there are great opportunities where I can use my skills and my knowledge to advance Buffalo General and the Institute.”
Buffalo General Medical Center's new president hits the ground running - Buffalo Business First (bizjournals.com)
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