New Samaritan CEO: priority is quality care

MOSES LAKE - The key to success at Samaritan Healthcare will be a focus on quality patient care.

In fact, that will be the key to success for health care organizations in general, said Tom Thompson, the hospital's new CEO.

Thompson started work May 6. He replaces Joe Sharp, who was hired as interim CEO in August 2012.

"It's all about patient care," Thompson said. That means providing services using the best practices, and providing care that works best in Moses Lake. Quality health care is easiest when health care providers and hospitals are working together, he said.

Before coming to Moses Lake Thompson and his family lived in the Midwest; his previous job was in Minnesota, he said. "My interest in (the Moses Lake job) was largely based on the potential I see," he said.

Moses Lake is growing, and a successful medical care sector, including the hospital, is crucial to its continued growth, he said. Doctors, clinics and the hospital need to work together to ensure quality care, he said.

That means an emphasis on patient safety, Thompson said, high quality in patient care and patients who know they've had good care. All that has to come at an affordable cost, both for the patient and the hospital, he said.

Medical care is changing, Thompson said. More patients are getting care in a clinical setting or as an outpatient, he said, and in a lot of those cases that's the best treatment for the patient. Thompson said he expects medical care to keep going in that direction.

In that case, hospitals and doctors have to work together, not just in town but around the region and the state, he said. Some services can be supported locally, but others can't, and local doctors and hospitals need to determine what can be of benefit locally and what has to be done elsewhere, Thompson said.

The hospital is in good financial condition, and keeping it that way requires attention. "You hardwire efficient management practices into the organization," Thompson said.

But it's not about profit for profit's sake. "Finance is a means. It's not an end," Thompson said. A healthy bottom line means the hospital can deliver the services it needs to, he said.

About 60 percent of the hospital's patients are insured through Medicare, Medicaid or other publicly funded insurance, Thompson said, and he doesn't expect that to change.