Five Questions With: Cynthia Huether

CYNTHIA HUETHER is the new CEO of the Eleanor Slater Hospital. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
CYNTHIA HUETHER is the new CEO of the Eleanor Slater Hospital. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Cynthia (Cindy) Huether is the new CEO of the Eleanor Slater Hospital, the state’s only long-term acute care hospital. The hospital, which provides long-term acute and post-acute care to patients with complex medical and psychiatric needs, was subject to an independent review that Gov. Gina M. Raimondo ordered in the first year of her administration.

Huether has more than 25 years of experience in the health care field, including in C-suite positions, including Rochester Regional Health System and Unity Health System, both in Rochester, N.Y. She talked recently with Providence Business News about her position and the state of the hospital’s progress in addressing the concerns identified in the independent review.

PBN: What motivated you to take this leadership position with Eleanor Slater Hospital, which has been so troubled?

HUETHER: The size of the system was what first interested me. As you may know, the Eleanor Slater Hospital system currently occupies four units – Regan, Pinel and Meyer units in Cranston and our Zambarano unit in Burrillville. During the interview process with the teams from the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the ESH staff, I was impressed with the compassion and vision that everyone articulated about the system.

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I am excited for the opportunity to work with like-minded people who share my views about serving those in long-term acute care with complex medical and psychiatric needs. This is truly a new beginning for the hospital and I look forward to building our new hospital leadership team. The chief nursing officer position for ESH was posted recently and the others – chief operating officer/chief financial officer and director of risk management – will be posting soon. Building a team that shares the values and goals of Gov. Raimondo’s administration – to expand access while providing care with dignity and respect – is very exciting.

PBN: Tell us how Eleanor Slater Hospital has addressed, or will address, a key issue noted in the independent review – that of people holding leadership positions who lacked appropriate training and/or experience.

HUETHER: From what I understand, the first step was bringing in Applied Management Systems [a health care consulting firm based in Burlington, Mass.], a little more than a year ago to serve as advisers and bring in many national best practices to the hospital. Hiring Chief Medical Officer Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz for both the hospital and the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals was also significant.

AMS has served in an advisory capacity to create needed change on the administrative end and Dr. McCance-Katz has brought critical medical leadership and meaningful change to our clinical systems. All of our searches for key leadership positions are on a national level and we hope to continue to bring experienced professionals who, like me, have had success in leading change to improve operational efficiency, integrating care across the continuum and creating new and innovative programs.

PBN: What key skills and expertise do you possess that will help you, as well as your senior staff, “right the ship” at the hospital and chart a smooth course?

HUETHER: One of the reasons I was drawn to this position is because it brings in all the areas of health care in which I have worked. Some of the relevant experience I bring to this job is having worked in New York state government and as executive director/CEO for a developmental disabilities organization, a rehabilitation center and two large behavioral health systems. All of these areas are represented in the Eleanor Slater Hospital system, where we care for those living with a developmental disability, those who need long-term rehabilitative care and those living with a behavioral health disorder. I have years of experience in identifying issues and implementing innovative solutions to create an environment in providing high-quality, compassionate care while expanding access and keeping costs in line.

PBN: There have been some improvements made at the hospital, thanks to recommendations made by an advising management team. What are those improvements and what is their focus: improved patient care, reduced expenses or something else?

HUETHER: AMS focused on benchmarking hospital operations and practices with national and best practice models while remaining focused on staff needs and working with patients and their families in a compassionate environment. From what I can determine, in the limited time I have been here, AMS accomplished that and a great deal more. There are many achievements, but a few that stand out are these: Developing a new organizational staffing model; creating a Patient Safety Committee; initiating daily safety huddles; implementing a Nursing Professional Council (which is an industry gold standard); realizing savings of nearly $1 million by changing a few staffing models and creating patient care safety fairs to retrain staff. They have made significant strides and I am excited at the prospect of continuing the work they started and building on it.

PBN: Two years from now, how will Eleanor Slater Hospital be different than it is now, as a result of your leadership?

HUETHER: Some aspects of Eleanor Slater Hospital will never change – that is, we are a hospital working with patients and their families where dignity, individuality and respect are top of mind. Much of the difference will be where the care is delivered. We are working on the consolidation of forensic and other psychiatric patients on the Cranston campus in units that are more suitable to better support patient and staff safety, while care for medical patients will be centralized at our Zambarano facility. I expect that we will remain ever focused on adopting evidence-based practices striving to be a high-reliability organization.

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