Health & Medical
Urgent care
How Gwen MacKenzie stopped the bleeding at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Tampa Bay | June 2008
Page 1 of 4
Gwen MacKenzie knew Sarasota Memorial Health Care
System was a great organization when she joined as president
and CEO in May 2005, despite the fact that it was losing as
much as $30 million a year.
The focus of the 4,500-employee organization had been solely to provide good patient care and services, while the financial aspects weren’t always a priority. Everyone assumed that
as big and strong as the organization was, it would be around
forever.
Yet, behind the curtain, things weren’t as rosy as many
thought.
Many employees, including doctors, didn’t know the organization was losing money because the focus wasn’t on the
finances.
“But my position was, it doesn’t go on forever by chance,”
she says. “It goes on forever with good solid performance. My
focus was more performance-based. If we do a good job and
monitor our patient satisfaction, if we have people who like to
work here and understand what we are trying to do for
patients, then the financial results will follow.”
Along with shifting attention to data and finances,
MacKenzie had to get everyone on the same page and start
communication between departments. She let everyone
know how much the organization was losing and why they
needed to turn things around to keep moving forward.
“You always have to sort of get it to a common understanding, and that shouldn’t be that dissimilar from group to group,
including the doctors,” she says. “The common understanding was if we lose $30 million a year, we’re not going to be
viable long term as an organization, and the community
counts on us.”
