Following Summa Health President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Malone’s resignation, his replacement must be a Summa insider — but not someone on the current executive team — who can heal the deep wounds, a physician leader said Friday.
There are a lot of broken relationships that need to be healed, including those among Summa-employed and contracted physicians and doctors who refer patients to the hospital system, as well as other employees and the public at large, said Dr. Michael Bage, a cardiologist and former Summa medical staff president. Bage penned the no-confidence letter that more than 250 physicians signed this month seeking the resignation of Dr. Malone and his leadership team. Another 447 physicians voted in an anonymous online survey against Malone with 24 voting in his favor.
“We need someone who is a Summa insider. Someone who knows the players, someone who knows the wounds, someone who knows how to get it done and bring all these groups together,” Bage said.
He cautioned against selecting a member of Malone’s senior leadership team as the new CEO.
“We’ll die on the vine,” Bage said.
Bage said if a “superstar” from the outside is brought in from the outside, “It will take them a long time to come up to speed. Why would you waste the time?”
Malone announced his resignation Thursday, 21 days after hundreds of doctors called for his departure following outcry over Summa’s decision to abruptly switch physician staffing for its ERs.
Malone will continue to serve as CEO for up to 60 days while Summa’s board of directors conducts a search for his successor.
Summa did not respond to a series questions submitted Friday by the Beacon Journal asking for details about several issues, including Malone’s resignation, his contract, the board’s plans for finding his replacement and questions about whether a new physician panel the board said it was setting up has been established.
Summa spokesman Mike Bernstein referred to Thursday’s statement by the board of directors.
Bage said he thinks Dr. Dale Murphy, who has been president of the medical staff twice and was an administrator as vice president of medical affairs, would be a good choice as an interim CEO.
“He’s not afraid to speak his mind. ... He’s like a statesman,” Bage said. “He can get people to come to the table and I think he understands the players and the culture.”
Murphy on Friday declined to comment on whether he would consider serving as an interim if asked, but he said he has started asking potential candidates.
He said selecting a member of Malone’s current leadership team “would be like thumbing your nose” at the hundreds of doctors who have demanded change.
“I’m reaching out to some people outside the system. They know the players and they know the issues,” he said. “There’s also a number of people internally who I think can do it, but I don’t want to start naming names.”
Another name mentioned has been Dr. Erik Steele, who was brought in as Summa’s chief medical officer in 2013 and was Malone’s competition for CEO to replace retiring CEO Thomas Strauss.
On Friday, Steele who is running Maine Quality Counts, a statewide nonprofit health organization, said: “I don’t have a comment to make except that I think Summa is a great organization full of wonderful caregivers providing great patient care, and am sad to see its troubles.”
Bage said Malone’s resignation is the first step in the process of healing, but he believes Malone’s top leadership team also needs to resign.
“I have my Christmas list of a handful of people I want to see gone. Malone was only part of the issue,” Bage said.
The board of directors also soon will have two new members. There have been 15 applications submitted by physicians for two terms that start Feb. 28. They are for the positions of Dr. Vivian von Gruenigen, who is now an administrator, and Dr. Scott Wilber, an emergency room physician who had plans to move out of state before his group’s contract was not renewed.
Murphy said a subcommittee will interview the 15 candidates in the next two weeks and submit a slate of four doctors to the board to choose for the two openings.
“We’re looking for physicians who can speak as a board member and sometimes put aside their title as a physician and recognize they’re part of a board,” Murphy said.
Murphy said interest among physicians in the board positions has grown in recent years, partially because several years ago, the makeup of the board changed and fewer physicians were represented.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty