G. Scott Manis, Interim GRMC CEOPhoto and article by Mary Alice Murphy

G. Scott Manis, who has been named Gila Regional Medical Center Interim Chief Executive Officer by the GRMC governance board, made up of Grant County Commissioners, introduced himself in a meet and greet with the Grant County Beat and the Silver City Daily Press.

Manis moved here from the Dallas, Texas, region, where he has lived for the past 11 years. He was named by HealthTechS3 to help GRMC turn around its operations after a stressful year of losses. The situation has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the need for extra expenditures in case of a surge in cases, which to date has not occurred, and the required shutdown of all elective procedures and tests.

"I work for HealthTechS3 management services," Manis said. "The firm is being considered by the governing body to also provide management services to the hospital. That is outside of my direct scope."

He said he will be on site at the hospital, where he has already served since May 4, until the Grant County Commission decides on a management contract or until they decide it's not the direction they want to go, and they want to hire their own CEO.

"I can quickly diagnose and work on operations for improvement and put together a plan to improve the hospital's financial situation," Manis said. "It will be reviewed by the governance board before any decision is made."

Geoffrey Plant, SCDP reporter, asked if Manis had seen such circumstances before.

"I'm usually brought in in cases of financial duress," Manis said. "I've also seen similar cases to the trustees being sidelined, when the governing board was in a similar financial situation."

When asked how long his contract is, he said he has made an initial three-month commitment on a rental house.

"I have started working on the finances but have not begun to formulate actions for the governance board," Manis said. "There are two sides to the finances how much you earn and how much goes out."

He said consultation is what HealthTechS3 provides and would put together decisions and a plan, if the firm is chosen for managing the hospital.

"I want people to know that the hospital is a safe place to come," Manis continued. "Today (May 18) was the first day that elective surgeries and procedures could begin officially. We have never stopped taking emergencies. They even fell dramatically but are starting to pick up again."

He said most of the staff is on site. "There were some people, before I got here, who were not working at the Wellness Center gym component, for example."

He has worked with HealthTechS3 before, but his most recent job was in Dallas with United Allergy Services. "A few years ago, I was with HealthTechS3 at Union County General Hospital in northern New Mexico. It was a similar situation with changes to the governance board and financial challenges."

Manis said Gila Regional is in the midst of the critical access designation process through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. "It is vital to this organization. It won't change the services we offer. It will change things to a better reimbursement rate. The application has already been submitted and somewhat fast-tracked. The next step is to have the CMS Joint Commission survey, which we are preparing to have happen in the near future. Then there will be other steps beyond that."

To a question about whether it could happen during the pandemic, Manis said it could happen soon. The initial process is a virtual survey for a few days, and then when it's safe to send people, CMS would send someone to validate what was identified during the virtual process. "We are working on preparation for this process now."

"We as the hospital, in collaboration with the governance board and the Commission, understand it is necessary to make these decisions as one," Manis said.

He noted that at the moment no mental health patients were being admitted to the behavioral health unit, because standards require a physician with appropriate credentialing to be onsite. "We started last Thursday not admitting because we had no full-time physician on site. We have no patients in the unit today. We have taken no action to close the unit."

"The first things I did when I began on May 4 were to familiarize myself with things the way they were done normally," Manis said. "I familiarized myself with the operational and financial situation and getting to know the team on site. I have met with department directions, in fact, we had a meeting this morning. I want to foster a positive relationship to assuage apprehension that can come with any change. The first thing I want to do is establish relationships to gain trust. I will take assessments but not assumptions. I will work closely with the Commission and the governance board. The commissioners have taken on additional responsibilities. I have also been in discussion with the remaining three trustees, James (Marshall), Cindy (Moreno) and Ed (Wilmot). They are involved in our conversations."

As for the next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, it is planned to be a virtual meeting at noon on May 29. "It is likely we will do it at the Grant County Commission Chambers where we can spread out more."