Roosevelt General CEO gets settled, talks business

Roosevelt General Hospital Chief Executive Officer Kaye Green wanted to return to the High Plains. She grew up in Amarillo. But she credited her new position to something else entirely.

"Every place I've ever been, I've felt like there was a reason that I was brought there. I think God's been in control of my path all along, and I think that I'm here for a reason. I think my particular skill set is probably what RGH needs at this point in time, and that is a focus on people and compassionate, excellent care," she said.

Green began her position at RGH in June after moving from Salisbury, North Carolina.

"My family and I are really enjoying Portales. We're getting re-acquainted with the Southwest. I've got a 7-year-old son, and one of our priorities was to get him actively engaged in stuff here to help with his transition," she said. "He's taking tennis lessons and swimming lessons this weekend. He's going to church camp in two weeks, so I think we're getting settled."

Q: What are you most looking forward to about working at RGH?

Green: For me, it's exciting to come to a small, independent hospital because I think that I will have both the flexibility and the autonomy to, when I identify a problem, to actually fix the problem and do it quickly.

Also, sometimes, it's easier to make advances and innovations in a small organization, especially one with such a positive culture, which I've experienced here at RGH so far.

The people here probably have the highest work ethic as anywhere I've ever worked. That's saying a lot. I just can't say enough about the people I've encountered so far here. That's really important, because I think if you're born and raised in a place that's got such high ethical standards and work ethic and all of that, I don't think that you fully recognize how special that is. After I've lived in a number of different - from rural to metropolitan - communities, it really is special. It's something to be treasured.

Q: How do you believe RGH can better provide patients with care in the future?

Green: I think we've got great staff here. Our greatest asset truly is our people. For a small, rural hospital, we've got good equipment, we've got a lot of opportunity, we're very close to paying off our existing debt, which means we're at the point where we can acquire new debt through a bond issue. I'm hoping to do that within the next year, and that will allow us to expand RGH.

That's exciting, because we really can identify what the needs are now and going forward in the future, and then try to build to meet those needs. It's a great position to be in.

My vision is for us to really focus on quality and patient safety and the patient experience. Those are my big three priority areas for the next year, and we're hoping to have a leadership retreat and invite our board members in August. We want to educate all of our department heads and our board of directors on the quality metrics that we look at - how RGH is doing compared to the other hospitals in New Mexico - and capitalize on what we're doing now and work on those areas where we have opportunity.

Q: In an uncertain financial landscape in the state, how does RGH fare?

Green: I am pleased to say that RGH is faring well. We are in the black, so we're making money every month, and I think that, in and of itself, is somewhat to be commended. I know of many rural hospitals that are losing money month after month, and that is not the case with RGH, so it's a really good position to be in.

I know that hasn't always been the case. I know that we were operating in the red up until maybe around 2010 to 2011, somewhere around there. Then we became solvent.

Certainly, I'm very concerned about making sure that we maximize the dollars that we have, and every cent is put back into advancing our care and really providing excellent care.

Q: What do you believe you can provide RGH to make it a more successful facility?

Green: I've got a lot of experience advancing health care organizations with new approaches, with better approaches to care. I certainly have fresh eyes, which is always valuable when you come into a new organization in identifying what the opportunities are.

I think probably my greatest strengths are that I value people, and I think my role as a leader - with regard to managing people - is really to unleash people's potential, and to provide education, an environment where they're empowered to make improvements within their own work areas. No one knows better how to improve care in a particular area other than the people who work there.

In a lot of organizations, front line staff are constrained. They're not allowed to make improvements, and I have the opposite philosophy. I really want to equip people with the tools they need to make wise improvements in their area for our patients and for our staff.

I also value integrity, and I think, especially in a health care environment these days, the need to have a leader with full integrity at the helm is very important. We maintain a trust with our community. They trust us when they come to us for care, and I'll be honest, no health care organization gets it right every second of every day.

I believe also that when we make mistakes, that we do our best to own our mistakes, to correct whatever went wrong so we don't repeat those mistakes, and that we just continue to move forward.

- Compiled by Staff Writer Eamon Scarbrough