Brim Testimonial: A Good Relationship Fosters Growth

Tomah Memorial Hospital Dr.Saunders
Tomah, Wisconsin

For Michael Saunders, M.D., a long-time medical staff member at Tomah Memorial Hospital, one of the best things about the hospital's longstanding management contract with Brim Healthcare is something most physicians there never even see.

"I know our QA person, for example, has a close relationship with her peers" across Brim's network of hospitals, says the family practitioner, who also has served on the hospital's board. "But I think most of the medical staff just sees our local professionals, doing a great job. I doubt the majority of the physicians here have ever interacted with a Brim person, you don't see them out walking the halls all the time or anything like that."

For Saunders, that's a key ingredient in Brim's success at Tomah Memorial. "It is very important to us to retain local competencies in key leadership areas," said Saunders. "Working with Brim, we haven't been "skeletonized" or forced to become completely dependent. We want that expertise in-house to keep this hospital strong and independent.

Tomah's relationship with Brim is nearly a decade old and going strong.

Brim is often called in to provide resources and expertise to hospitals that have fallen on very difficult times, but the company came onto the scene at Tomah in 1999 under very different circumstances.

"When we engaged Brim, we did it from a position of strength," said Saunders. "When we had been on the ropes in the past, we had done affiliations with other organizations, and we also considered staying independent. By the time we brought Brim into the picture, things were going very well."

Still, the hospital board looked down the road and was motivated to pursue a management contract with Brim for reasons that have proven to be right on target.

"What we thought we needed then has been bourne out by our experience since," Saunders said. "First, we knew we needed the oversight they provide. None of our board members has an MBA in hospital administration; we aren't qualified to monitor the hospital day-to-day. The hospital is a small organization, and the depth of resources is not huge. That oversight is very important. Brim makes sure we have a high-quality operation, or makes recommendations for adjustments. Second, having Brim has been like having a good insurance policy against problems with senior management turnover," Saunders added. "If we lost a CEO or CFO, there is someone available with the right expertise to transition us. We don't have a big bunch of VPs here who could step into that role, and that was a major anxiety for us. Having Brim here takes care of all that."

At the same time, he recalled and related, original concern expressed by the board that has not proven to be a problem.

"The CFO position here, which is so important, has turned over a couple times since Brim has been here," he said. "We weren't sure what kind of candidates we would get if we were managed by an outside firm. We worried that they would be ladder-climbers who were in and out of here. But we've been happy with what has happened here, with highly competent CFO's, and that hasn't been a concern." Brim selects that individual with the local board's approval. In Tomah's case, Brim hired the CEO who was already at the hospital when the management contract was originally executed.

As the years have passed since Brim came on the scene at Tomah, the hospital has thrived and grown, and Saunders believes the relationship has been a very good one. "We have been happy," he said. "If we had it do over again, we would."