Louisiana Hospital Leaders Named HealthLeaders Top Leadership Team For Large Hospitals

BATON ROUGE, La., May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, a 343-bed urban hospital in Louisiana’s capital, were named today as the 2004 HealthLeaders Top Leadership Team in Healthcare for Large Hospitals.

The 100-year-old community hospital and its parent integrated healthcare delivery system were hemorrhaging financially five years ago, but the leadership team set a new direction that brought the facility back from the verge of collapse.

“When leaders dedicate themselves to goals and work together, amazing things happen, and that’s what occurred at Baton Rouge General,” said Scott McQuigg, president and publisher of HealthLeaders, an award-winning monthly magazine for senior-level healthcare executives.

The senior leadership team at Baton Rouge General includes Bill Holman, president and CEO; Floyd Roberts, M.D., chief medical officer; Dionne Viator, senior vice president and chief financial officer; Monica Nijoke, vice president of patient care/nursing, and George Bell, vice president of physician relations.

“This award reflects the commitment and dedication of the hospital’s leadership team, employees and our medial staff,” Holman said. “We have a reputation as a caring and friendly hospital that provides exceptional care. We’ve earned that reputation because our physicians and staff are passionate about their work and have a genuine commitment to excellence in every aspect of their work.

“We put patients first in everything we do, and there is a tremendous amount of teamwork because we are all working together for the benefit of our patients and the community we serve,” Holman said.

The Top Leadership Team in Healthcare award was based on the outstanding teamwork exhibited by Baton Rouge’s senior leaders that led to them achieving their stated operational goals and objectives, McQuigg said. A panel of judges considered how the senior leadership team worked together to overcome challenges and barriers to meet its goals and objectives.

The judges selected Baton Rouge General from among three finalists in HealthLeaders’ search for the 2004 Top Leadership Teams in Healthcare. The other finalists were NYU Medical Center in New York and University of Colorado Hospital in Denver.

“The judges felt each of the finalists deserved to be the Top Leadership Team because each hospital’s leaders are outstanding,” McQuigg said. “But the teamwork exhibited by the leadership group at Baton Rouge General is truly exemplary.”

In addition to the Large Hospital category, for hospitals with 170 beds or more, HealthLeaders has named Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Walnut Ridge, Ark., as the Top Leadership Team for Small Hospitals with less than 170 beds. The other finalists in the Small Hospital category were the leaders at Odessa Regional Hospital, Odessa, Texas, and Spring Harbor Hospital, Westbrook, Maine.

Finalists in the search for the Top Leadership Team for Health Plans, which will be announced later, are Healthchoice Arizona, Tempe, Ariz., and Medica, Minneapolis, Minn., and QualCare Inc., Piscataway, N.J.

HealthLeaders will feature the nation’s top healthcare leadership teams in a future issue, and they will receive worldwide exposure on http://www.healthleaders.com/ .

HealthLeaders Inc. ( http://www.healthleaders.com/ ) is an integrated healthcare media and business information company comprised of HealthLeaders, a 40,000 circulation monthly magazine which provides senior-level healthcare executives with solution-focused ideas to help leadership teams improve business operations, HealthLeaders Online News and HealthLeaders Research, a leading provider of in-depth state-level and local data and analysis on 850 health plans, as well as analysis of healthcare developments in 75 major metropolitan markets.

HealthLeaders Inc.

CONTACT: Tom Gillem, Communications Manager of HealthLeaders Inc.,+1-615-369-4806, or tom.gillem@healthleaders.com