By Errin Haines
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - After months of talking about the survival of Grady Memorial Hospital, its new leader says he wants to focus on Grady's success.
Michael Young does not officially start at Grady until Sept. 1, but has been visiting the hospital since last week. The hospital administrator who currently heads a health system in upstate New York said he was attracted to Grady's top job because of the hospital's significance to the Atlanta community.
"I know what Grady means to everybody," Young told a group of reporters at a press conference on Monday.
Just a year ago, Grady was facing a $55 million deficit and threatening to close its doors. Since then, it has shifted to a nonprofit leadership team and received a $200 million donation from The Woodruff Foundation to make capital improvements.
Young, who has 20 years of experience running hospitals, cited some of his top priorities: buying upgraded medical equipment, identifying the hospital's top ten financial issues, familiarizing himself with patient care and streamlining some of its processes - such as shorter wait times in the emergency room and at the pharmacy.
Young said such changes would quickly change the public's opinion of Grady.
"The difference will be the aura," he said.
Currently, the overwhelming majority of Grady's patients - more than 90 percent - cannot pay for the treatment they receive. As a charity hospital, Grady's core mission is to take care of indigent patients. The formula has hobbled Grady financially for decades, and its reputation as a hospital for the poor has made it hard to attract insured customers.
People with insurance are most likely to find themselves at Grady if they've been in a car crash or other serious accident because Grady is the only hospital in a 100-mile radius of Atlanta that has a Level 1 trauma center, capable of treating the most severe injuries.
Young said providing high quality care and a more positive experience will bring in more patients who can pay without compromising the hospital's mission.
"It is a big, old mess," Young said. "So how do you change that? You change it for real. You take the good care we deliver today and put it in an environment that's not negative, so that everybody will know that they get the highest level of care."
Over the next two to three years, Young said he hopes to have Grady breaking even financially, and that he will work with political, corporate and religious leaders, as well as the hospital's medical staff, administrators and patients to "make Grady what Atlanta expects it to be."
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On the Net:
Grady Health System: http://www.gradyhealthsystem.org
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