Despite troubles at Baylor St. Luke’s, Janda said it would make sense for the newly merged system to try to improve it, not sell it: “If they want to be a national system, they’re going to want to be successful. They’re not going to want to say they’re pulling out of Texas or selling their Texas assets.”
Glad to talk with Houston Public Media about the need for stability after hospital systems merge. Here’s an excerpt, below, and the full story is here.
Another challenge for St. Luke’s is ownership. The parent company for Baylor St. Luke’s just finalized a massive merger to form Common Spirit, a $29 billion organization, which is now the largest not-for-profit, faith-based hospital system in the United States. It’s the third major management shuffle for Baylor St. Luke’s in under 10 years.
“Lots of changes in leadership over that point in time — distractions,” said Ken Janda, a health care economics professor at Rice University and a consultant with Wild Blue Health Solutions.
“It’s been a tough few years, and I think last year and the early part of this year were that finally bubbling up to the surface,” he said.
According to Janda, stability at the top is fundamental for the hospital’s recovery. “That’s really, I think, what St. Luke’s needs more than anything else is no more changes for awhile – ‘Let us get back to where we used to be,’” he said.
Despite troubles at Baylor St. Luke’s, Janda said it would make sense for the newly merged system to try to improve it, not sell it: “If they want to be a national system, they’re going to want to be successful. They’re not going to want to say they’re pulling out of Texas or selling their Texas assets.”
