Talk to James Hahn, Delta Medical Center’s new CEO, and it is quickly evident that building relationships is a skill he values highly. One suspects that this easy-going man's decades of successful leadership in medical care facilities have been founded largely on a gift for bringing people together to create partnerships that benefit patients and their communities.
The specialty-referral hospital selected Hahn as its CEO in April. Delta, an Acadia Healthcare facility, offers inpatient and outpatient hospital care, including surgery, a 24-hour emergency department, acute medical care and behavioral health medicine. Acadia, a provider of inpatient behavioral healthcare services, operates a network of 225 facilities in 37 states, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico.
Hahn’s “together we are better” philosophy is behind Delta’s current venture, the Crestwyn adult and adolescent psychiatric facility now under construction in Germantown’s Forest Hill Irene-Winchester area. The 60-bed hospital, which is expected to be completed by mid-2016, is a joint undertaking between Delta, Saint Francis Healthcare and Baptist Memorial Healthcare.
The new facility’s governing board will include board members from all three partners. Hahn will be one of the board members representing Delta/Acadia. The board will collaboratively select management for the new facility, which will develop its own staff of providers and patient-care professionals. Recruitment is expected to begin late this year.
Their interest, and one of their goals, according to Hahn, is “to raise the awareness, accessibility and quality of behavioral healthcare – and to establish partnerships and relationships within the Memphis community that allow us to provide meaningful healthcare service to this community.”
Hahn’s former 10-year tenure as CEO of a freestanding, 64-bed adult and adolescent psychiatric facility in Decatur, Alabama – in conjunction with his role as president/CEO at a 256-bed acute medical-surgical facility — prepared him for this project.
“That’s where I had my first professional administrative introduction to psychiatric healthcare and began to develop my involvement in the behavioral health arena,” he said. “That was during the early 2000s, when psychiatric and behavioral healthcare began its real growth, which continues. It’s likely the fastest-growing aspect of healthcare today.”
Delta’s approach to offering behavioral services within a medical facility has given him further insights into the benefits of combining both services under one convenient roof.
The ability to treat the whole person can be a valuable plus, especially in cases like those within Delta’s senior care program, most of whose elderly psychiatric patients also have medical issues.
Behavioral health issues are gaining increasing recognition, Hahn said. “The way we deal with them now is changing, because we can treat them more effectively. Insurers are more willing and able to identify them as legitimate conditions they can reimburse for, and employers, family members and others understand now that these aren’t things that people just sign up for — these are legitimate medical conditions that can (each) be recognized and treated like what it is -- a clinical medical condition.”
Other priorities on his agenda include efforts to develop Delta’s community partnerships with churches, schools and other institutions. “It’s important that our hospital be a community-based hospital," he said. "We want to be a good neighbor and a good part of this community.”
Their new tagline, “Your hospital — Our community,” reflects that partnership commitment.
Under Hahn’s direction, Delta has taken another innovative partnering step, positioning itself as a teaching hospital. Hahn points to the medical education and training they now provide to Resurrection Health’s family medicine interns and residents. In addition to the Resurrection trainees Delta recently began welcoming, they also offer mid-level provider training programs for physician assistants — and continue to develop similar programs in addiction medicine and other arenas.
He has also made the remodeling and improvement of Delta’s patient care environment a priority. Efforts began with the recently completed renovation of a new senior care area, and others are ongoing throughout the center.
While some perceive Delta as a small hospital, the number of square feet available is less significant than how intelligently and effectively they are used — a principle one can observe in action at this thriving, growing and energy-charged facility, Hahn said.
“We’re getting better every day, adding new providers and new services, improving the quality of existing services, and committed to improving the quality of healthcare in the community where we serve," he said.
Hahn describes himself as employing a patient-focused management style in dealing with the omnipresent challenge of balancing cost and quality of care. It’s an attitude he learned early as a 16-year-old in his hometown of Columbia, Mississippi, where his father was a hospital administrator, and the younger Hahn began working as an orderly at the hospital.
At 18, he trained as an emergency medical technician (EMT) and then as an emergency room technician, working in Hattiesburg and Columbia emergency rooms during summer breaks from his undergraduate (BBA) and MBA studies at the University of Mississippi at Oxford.
Hahn is a man who knows his way around a hospital, from entry-level patient care to his early training as assistant administrator at Baptist Memorial Hospital North Mississippi in Oxford — and stints as CEO at Baptist North and Decatur General, and as administrator at Oktibbeha County Hospital in Starkville and North Mississippi Medical Center at West Point.
He offers thoughtful advice based on 40 years of healthcare experience, including 25-plus years in leadership. “Nothing in healthcare administration is ever as good or as bad as it seems! Take everything seriously, but keep it in perspective," he said.
Hahn has been married for 34 years and has a daughter practicing law and a son in health services administration at the University of Memphis. A former Little League player, coach and supporter, he remains an avid Cardinals and Redbirds fan. He is owned by Archie, a cat who thinks he is a dog.
RELATED LINKS:
Delta Medical Center, www.deltamedcenter.com
Acadia Healthcare, www.acadiahealthcare.com
