Last month, Mississippi Medical News profiled Glen Silverman about his new post as CEO of Central Mississippi Medical Center (CMMC). This month, Silverman granted MMN an exclusive interview about his new role, challenges in the rapidly changing healthcare industry, top priorities, and new services unveiled in 2009.

 

 

We continued that trend of firsts this year with the purchase of the state's first and only O-arm, a system that provides real-time 3-dimensional images during surgery. The system's main stream uses as it stands today are mostly in the field of spine and back surgery, dramatically increasing the safety to the patient. Since patient safety is at the forefront of what we do, we anticipate greater applications for using this machine in the future.

 

CMMC continues to add trained specialists to its list of physicians using the Leksell Gamma Knife® PERFEXION™—Mississippi's first and only gamma knife designed to provide precisely targeted cobalt radiation to treat brain tumors and neurological disorders through stereotactic radiosurgery.

 

Our strength in bariatric surgery recently earned our Comprehensive Weight Management Center designation as a Center of Excellence® by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). We are one of only three programs in the state of Mississippi to earn this recognition. To solidify the program, we recruited Dr. Annette Low, a metabolic weight specialist who lends her expertise to the medical weight management component of the center.

 

To accommodate larger patients or those who suffer from claustrophobia, CMMC will soon offer the Toshiba Titan MRI. This system offers a larger bed and roomier scanning chamber.

 

To enhance the surgical capabilities of our hospital, we added the da Vinci^® Surgical System to our list of technological upgrades. Trained specialists use the system to perform less invasive hysterectomies and prostatectomies robotically.

 

We continue to look for opportunities to add specialists as the needs present themselves. Most recently, we added a new cardiovascular specialist to help stop the outmigration into the city. We are big believers that customers (patients) want to stay at CMMC and avoid the city if at all possible, but you have to be able to provide them with great doctors and consistent services. Our recruitment efforts aim to meet that specific goal.    

 

I think like most hospital leaders, our challenges are many, but I'm optimistic that good strategic planning and good old-fashioned hard work and commitment will win out in the end. I've always believed in the motto: control the things you can control. I have no control over the local economy. I have no control of state or federal changes to either the way healthcare is delivered or the way it is reimbursed. I will continue to position the hospital to be as efficient as possible as I believe lean organizations are better prepared to weather storms.

 

My immediate commitment is to the 1,300 people I employ. It's not to the 1301^st person that we're thinking of employing. I take that job very seriously. As with any business, you have to stay viable. These are tough economic times, and as long as we continue to communicate effectively with our staff and physicians, I think they'll continue to support us. 

 

Another one of my top priorities is recognizing and continuing to develop physician champions. As I mature into this role, it becomes glaringly obvious that I need help to future the hospital in terms of quality improvement, performance improvement, and customer relations improvements. Physician leadership and involvement in planning and operations is a key component of any successful hospital operation. We're blessed to have a wealth of physician leaders on staff at CMMC, and it's my goal to further tap into their experience and expertise as we work together to make this facility the best it can be.