LANSING, Mich., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Michigan Health & Hospital Association presented its Health Care Leadership Award today to James D. Austin, administrator at Kalkaska Memorial Health Center, and to Terry Reiley, president of the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in Farmington Hills. The award was presented during the association’s 2004 Health Care Leadership Forum.
“This award is presented to individuals who have provided outstanding leadership to a health care organization and to the health and well-being of the community. It’s an honor to present the Health Care Leadership Award to not one, but two individuals this year,” said MHA President Spencer Johnson. “Mr. Austin and Ms. Reiley have each advanced the health status of the citizens that Kalkaska Memorial and the Rehabilitation Institute serve respectively.”
James Austin has been the administrator at Kalkaska Memorial Health Center for 15 years. He was initially hired for his strength in long-term care as KMHC was getting ready to open a new 60-bed long-term-care unit. The unit has maintained a full census and recently obtained all 10 stars in the Eden tree, indicating adherence to the 10 principles of the Eden Alternative philosophy of improving the well-being of the elderly and those who care for them. KMHC is one of four facilities in Michigan to achieve this designation.
In addition to improving the long-term care of Kalkaska’s citizens, Austin has made it a priority to grow KMHC by diversifying its outpatient health care offerings through adding a cardiac rehabilitation program, cardiac testing and ultrasound and by expanding speech, occupational and pulmonary therapy. Austin has also been instrumental in lobbying for changing the certificate of need process for small facilities to obtain CT scan equipment. KMHC is now in the process of a $1.5 million venture -- without acquiring debt -- that will add a CT scan machine and aqua therapy program.
Austin has done several things to foster and encourage an organizational culture focused on delivering high-quality care, achieving exemplary patient satisfaction and maintaining a positive work environment. He sought and achieved becoming a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, promotes the uses of satisfaction surveys and a process improvement plan (the most recent PressGaney survey ranked KMHC’s emergency room in the 91st percentile for patient satisfaction), and has grown the staff from 120 employees to more than 250. Austin is also a member of the local Rotary Club and serves on the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce Board.
Since coming to the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in 1989 as assistant administrator, Terry Reiley has moved up through the ranks to accept the presidency in 2000. Through her leadership, Reiley has continued the viability of RIM through new ventures, mergers, affiliations and expansion of services. Some examples include designing and implementing a successful service line model of rehabilitation care, restructuring financial cost centers to improve financial accountability and managed care pricing capability, and managing the early integration of rehabilitation services across the eight hospitals of the Detroit Medical Center.
Reiley has used creativity and innovation to broaden RIM’s scope of services, including women’s and cancer rehabilitation. She has also increased RIM’s outpatient volume while keeping capital costs down by partnering with health club facilities to offer therapy services and nonhealth-care corporations to provide on-site therapy, health screenings and education to employees. During her presidency, Reiley has been instrumental in increasing the number of outpatient sites from five to 19.
A strong supporter of people with disabilities, she has advocated for the revitalization of RIM’s wheelchair sports program, initiated the request that led the Detroit City Council to proclaim May 6, 2004, as Employment of Persons with Disabilities Day in Detroit, and has supported RIM’s annual Living without Limitations Expo at Cobo Conference Center. She is also a lead backer of Pioneers for Peace, a violence prevention community outreach program that has won statewide and national recognition.
The MHA is a state association, based in Lansing, that represents and supports Michigan hospitals, health systems and health care providers through education, advocacy and communication.
Michigan Health & Hospital Association
CONTACT: Sherry Mirasola or Linda Dicks of Michigan Health & HospitalAssociation, +1-517-323-3443
Web site: http://www.mha.org/