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FORT SMITH—After D. Melody Trimble, CEO of Sparks Health System, posted her personal cell phone number in all patient rooms to call her with any questions or concerns, she received a call in the middle of the night.

Nothing was wrong. That patient, it turned out, was just skeptical that the top official at the hospital would really be available to answer calls from patients.

“Patients call me even when I am on vacation,” Trimble said. “Even if I am in a meeting, if it is a call from a number I don’t recognize, I answer it.”

Being what Trimble calls a “servant leader,” putting others before yourself, is one of the three guiding principles of the Getting to Great (G2G) culture initiative at Sparks. The second one is, “We do the right thing.” And the third principle is, “We don’t settle,” a credo assuring they have the right resources and skilled staff   to provide superior healthcare.

“For us, G2G is not the flavor of the month,” Trimble said. “It is the culture.”

Recognition of her success in meeting those lofty goals was being named “CEO of the Year” for 2009 and receiving the “President's Leadership Award” for 2010 from Health Management.

And the hospital has received top rankings, as well, with CareChex ranking Sparks’ women’s health and stroke care number one in Arkansas in its 2011 Quality Awards. CareChex also ranked Sparks’ stroke care in the top two percent for medical excellence and the top three percent for patient safety for hospitals nationwide. Its women’s health program was ranked among the top ten percent nationally for medical excellence and patient safety.

Trimble took a little different route to becoming a hospital CEO. She received a B.S. in nursing from Eastern Kentucky University in 1980, and later received a M.S. in nursing from the University of Kentucky. She has been with Health Management since 1991, serving at different hospitals in roles from clinical director of Emergency Services to CNO to COO, a job she found critical to understanding the management and financial end of the business.

Her engaging personality is also a plus. She talks about growing up “tougher than a pine nut” with four brothers, and a military officer father. Just like her father, she is a very strategic commander.

“I am always figuring out how to get a job done,” Trimble said. “We have a job to do, so let’s get it done. People who come into the emergency room (ER) need people of action. I can push a stretcher faster in stilettos than most people in tennis shoes.”

Trimble can make million dollar deals and transport a patient in the same hour, said Sparks’ COO Sue Conley.

“She is the most giving person I know, yet a tough businessperson when it comes to making hard decisions,” Conley said. “Melody’s passion and love for our staff and our patients is evident every day. She always puts our patients first and is the hardest working CEO I have ever seen. Mel has a great sense of humor, a heart of gold, and is compassionate.”

Her nursing background helps Trimble talk to physicians in the language they understand.

“Physicians are the true driver of this hospital,” Trimble said. “We need to engage them. When doctors say, ‘Here is an issue,’ I can hear and understand it.”

There is also an important side of this CEO that represents compassion and nurturing. Trimble said she gets that caring side from her mother. It is also influenced by her being a very faith-based person.

“God knit me perfectly for what I do,” Trimble said. “God put me in places where I was needed, places where there were opportunities to help this community have exceptional healthcare. It is not easy. We make tough decisions that everyone will not understand. That is part of being a leader making those kinds of decisions, honoring the people involved in those decisions, and understanding I’m not going to make everyone happy.”

One of the biggest challenges is providing adequate and exceptional personnel. There are concerns about future shortages of nurses, and Arkansas is already seeing a shortage of physicians.

“The average nurse is in her 50s, and we don’t have enough nursing instructors to train replacement nurses entering the field when those nurses retire,” Trimble said. “We are working to partner with colleges to assist them with more clinical training for nursing students. The shortage of physicians is getting worse, not better. There is an estimated shortage of 100,000 physicians in the U.S. One thing we are doing about that is we have a family practice medical residency program on our campus. We are helping to train those future doctors, and hope they will stay in our community or state.”

When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act goes into effect, it is estimated that 95 percent of Americans not eligible for Medicare will have some kind of health insurance, and demand for care is expected to increase. Meeting that demand will be difficult.

“I do think we have tough times ahead,” Trimble said. “Hospitals will be paid less. Of 5,600 hospitals in the country, 2,000 are in trouble. None of us want to take a pay cut because we may get paid 30 percent less by Medicare. There are concerns about the reduction in the fee schedule for Medicare eroding the ability of physicians to practice medicine. The net earnings of physicians have already decreased considerably. An orthopedic surgeon’s Medicare reimbursement fee for hip replacement is less than what some women spend on hair to get cut, styled and colored.”

What can hospitals do about the challenges? They can continue to be as efficient and effective as possible.

“At the end of the day, when a patient comes to the ER or the hospital floor, we will greet them and care for them with great compassion and excellence,” she said. “That is the thing hospitals wrap themselves around. We may also provide more after hours care at a clinic to help prevent overcrowding at ERs. We have to look at folks who are non-urgent, and provide other opportunities for them to seek healthcare instead of going to the ER.”

Trimble and her husband have two daughters – one a nurse, and the other a senior at the University of Florida – and three grandchildren. Her biggest passions outside the healthcare arena are her grandchildren and quilting.

Tags:

CareChex rankings, hospital profitability, Medicare funding cuts, Melody Trimble, physician shortage, Sparks Health System

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