October marked one full year since I was named CEO. We have had a busy year, and we have made some very positive changes. When I became CEO, I said I had two priorities – our people and our finances. It is impossible to run a healthcare organization without good people, and you cannot have good people without strong finances.

INFOGRAPHIC: Jennifer Riley’s established priorities and goals for MRH.

The financial changes are more tangible and easier to see. We started the year with 20 days of operating cash in the bank, and I am happy to report that we will end 2022 with nearly 55 days of operating cash. It is a healthier cash position than we have had in a long time, and we will continue to make that a focus in 2023.

In order to hire and retain good people, we knew we needed to focus on the culture at MRH. To gauge how we are doing with our culture, we survey our employees annually. This year over 75% of our employees took the survey, and the question that saw the biggest increase was regarding how satisfied the employee is with MRH as a place to work. Over 87% answered that they were satisfied – up from 69% last year. We’ve also seen a 12% decrease in turnover from 2021, from an abysmal 42% to 30% as of October 2022, which is a good start but certainly an area we will continue to focus on.

Heading into 2023, we recognize that the economy is a concern for everyone. We will be giving 2.5% cost-of-living raises to staff in December of this year, and we are budgeting for a 3% cost-of-living increase in 2023. We are also not raising the cost of our medical benefits, despite a 13% increase from the insurance company. MRH will absorb the increase.

Our financial goals for 2023 include increasing our operating cash to 65 days and reducing our days in accounts receivable. Our quality goals will continue to focus on measures that directly impact patients, like readmission rates and hospital-acquired infections (which, incidentally is at 0% for 2022).

My first year as CEO has gone by quickly, and I’m excited about the direction we are headed. As always, I welcome your calls and feedback. This will be the last communication from me this year, and I wish you all Happy Holidays.