Texas Health care in the United States isn’t so much of a system as it is a continuum of care whether it’s short term, long term or at home.
That’s how Michael McEachern, the new Promise Hospital of Wichita Falls CEO, said he views patient care and the hospital‘s role. Promise, he said, is a long-term care facility and is as transition from a traditional hospital to home or a skilled nursing facility.
“We work in conjunction with the short-term acute care facilities to take those patients that don’t really need to be in a short-term acute-care facility anymore, but they still need acute care to get well or to at least get to the best possible functioning lifestyle they’re able to get to,” he said. “That’s basically what we do.”
McEachern made the switch from Bowie Memorial Hospital interim CEO in late May during historic flooding to take the position at Promise. He said he was immediately impressed by the skill and commitment to patient care that he saw during his first couple of weeks at the facility.
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He said what was also encouraging was to see many of the roughly 175 employees at Promise eager for leadership roles and a desire to do more.
“It was refreshing to come and find a staff that wants to grow, that wants to learn more to take care of additional really complex patients and do it well,” he said. “We do have a lot of conversations about how we do things, why we do things a certain way, how we can do it better, and no matter what we’re talking about, whether it’s financials or a particular program, we always come back to the fact of how does this help the patient?”
The Groves native said he has been in health care since about 1977 as a business student Lamar University in Beaumont when he worked as an emergency medical technician. He went on to earn a master’s degree inhospital administration at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Then he completed a residency program and began his first job in Augusta, Georgia.
Since then, he has worked in a variety of capacities at facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and Ohio, including interim CEO stints in Dallas and previously at Bowie Memorial.
“I was excited to get the offer to come to Promise,” he said. “It’s a good system. They have hospitals across the U.S.”
What makes Promise unique, he said, is how the hospital deals with a very narrow patient population that is typically very sick. The hospital has two sides: a skilled nursing facility and a long-term acute care facility.
“We’re sort of like a big (intensive care unit),” he said.
The hospital‘s coverage area goes as far north as Oklahoma City, east to Sherman and down to Graham.
McEachern, a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, said the challenge for him, Promise and other medical facilities is the constantly changing landscape of health care, especially with new guidelines from the Affordable Care Act still being introduced.
Promise is one of 21 long-term acute care facilities in the United States owned by Promise Healthcare, Inc.
Facilities are also located in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Utah.
Date: July 4, 2015