Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270041
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bob Terrell, who has been St. Alban's chief for 15 1/2 years, said Thursday he has ``several options to look at'' for future employment.
His duties will be assumed by Janet McKinney, who becomes vice president for Carilion Psychiatric Services. In addition to St. Alban's, those services include two floors at Roanoke Memorial Hospital Rehabilitation Center, outpatient counseling and referral services. Both facilities will continue to offer psychiatric services.
McKinney has been director of Carilion Behavioral Sciences since 1992. She formerly was administrator at Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center when it was Roanoke Valley Psychiatric Center. She lost her job there in a 1990 downsizing.
``I have a lot of empathy with Mr. Terrell,'' McKinney said.
The combined Carilion facilities employ 310 people - 250 at St. Alban's, and 60 in Roanoke. McKinney said no more job cuts are planned ``at this point.'' However, in the next six months, the merged program will be evaluated, she said.
Psychiatric hospitals have taken big hits as managed care companies insist that hospital stays be shortened to cut health care costs. Three years ago, the average length of stay in a mental health facility was 13 days; now, it's nine or fewer days.
St. Alban's, which has 162 beds, has been averaging about 45 patients, McKinney said. The two psychiatric floors at the Rehabilitation Center have 44 beds, and the average number of patients has been seven.
This is the second restructuring announced by Carilion this week. It also is consolidating laboratories at three of its major hospitals under a new subsidiary, Carilion Consolidated Labs. That change, which will be completed by October, will require the current 285 lab workers to reapply for jobs once descriptions are written for the new positions.
The changes are in reaction to pressure from insurance companies, who go to the lowest-cost providers to buy services. The competitive atmosphere is heightened in the Roanoke Valley by the competition between Carilion, one of the state's largest health systems, and Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem. Lewis-Gale is owned by Columbia/HCA Corp., which is building a national network of facilities.
In addition to the lab and psychiatric restructurings, Carilion is beginning a re-engineering process with the help of an outside consulting firm, said Thomas L. Robertson, CEO and president.
Mercer Management Consulting will aid Carilion in redesigning itself to deliver quality, low-cost care in a friendly manner, Robertson said.
Mercer is a member of Marsh & McLennan's Mercer Consulting Group, the world's second largest consulting organization. Mercer consultants currently are involved in a similar project at the Medical College of Virginia.
In the coming 90 to 120 days, all Carilion employees will be organized into teams to assess the needs of patients and of the companies that pay for health care, Robertson said.
``We need to be looking for ways to integrate services and begin thinking as a `system,''' Robertson said.
The redesign is expected to take two to three years.
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