Five-Minute Consult

Jeff Turner
CEO
Moore County Hospital District
Dumas, TX

Jeff Turner started his career at a 350-bed nonprofit hospital where, after seven years, he was a vice president. He then moved into for-profit hospitals as chief operating officer at a 180-bed Triad facility for seven years. Now he's CEO of Moore County Hospital District, where he's executed a dramatic turnaround.

Turner: I was born and raised in San Antonio and then went to Abilene Christian University, so that's how I found myself drawn here. There were a number of challenges. We had an interim CFO, did not have a chief nursing officer, and we lost our HR director and nursing home administrator. So there was a complete transition in my executive team.

Additionally, the hospital had lost its orthopedic surgeon, which meant we lost about 350 cases a year. We had high turnover rates and high utilization of contract labor. On the bright side, we had great talent at the director level, but we were just not hitting on all cylinders, not achieving patient satisfaction targets, and underperforming. Our job at our rural hospital is to give people a reason to stay home for care.

I don't believe it's true, but "bigger is better" is a prevalent mind-set. Contract labor was a big priority. In the year prior to my arrival we had spent $725,000 on contract labor, and for a facility our size, that's choking. I felt like that had a profound impact on culture, and certainly didn't promote quality. Over the course of that year, we eliminated contract labor.

We've changed the culture and patient satisfaction scores are on the rise. Our ER scores were in the 7th percentile when I arrived. Last week we celebrated being in the 88th, and we have been as high as 93rd percentile. It's as simple as creating an environment where your employees can succeed.

—Philip Betbeze