Early this year, Acadia Healthcare moved forward with plans to begin operations this spring at the new Crestwyn Behavioral Health Center in Germantown by recruiting Missourian Phil Willcoxon to serve as CEO — a decision that may prove to be apt on more levels than are immediately obvious.
Holder of a bachelor’s degree in science, business and marketing from Kansas State and a master’s in hospital/healthcare administration from the University of Missouri, Willcoxon served the Freeman Health System in Joplin, Mo., for 22 years. His service included duty as the hospital’s CEO and, most recently, as CEO of its Ozark Center -- a community mental health organization that provides service to a four-state area with more than 450,000 residents. As a student, Willcoxon had begun his training at ground level, with a summer job as an OR orderly at the medical center where his father, a surgeon, was on staff.
While such credentials are valuable assets for the CEO job, Willcoxon may also have a secret weapon that gives him an edge. In his free time, he loves to cook — and learned his skills as a child from a grandmother who cooked by instinct, using a dash of this and a pinch of that. So perhaps his proven ability to build successful teams that perform seamlessly and productively together relies in part on that instinct acquired as a child — to select the right ingredients and blend them creatively to achieve impressive results.
“(At Crestwyn) we’re starting from scratch,” Willcoxon said. “We have to hire all new people and develop those relationships. That’s been a challenge, but it’s also what drives me. I love to build relationships — build a team around a common mission.”
The Crestwyn project, a 60-bed, 61,000-square-foot psychiatric hospital, is near completion. The unique collaboration between Nashville-based Acadia Healthcare and Saint Francis Hospital, Baptist Memorial Health Care and Delta Medical Center offered Willcoxon an exciting chance to bring together his choice of ingredients for a successful venture.
“What really appealed to me about this opportunity is that it is a brand-new hospital, in the final stage of construction, so it would be my responsibility to build the team, to hire, train and develop all that. I felt it was a way to put my culture and my legacy into this brand-new effort.
“Dealing and talking with the (Crestwyn) board members and representatives from Baptist and Saint Francis, it was obvious that all three of us came into this partnership fully aligned and on the same page, with Acadia managing day-to-day operations at Crestwyn.”
Willcoxon reported recently that construction was nearly complete, with some furniture already in the building. Anticipated April 1 occupancy would allow time for tech installation, staffing and shakedown before the first patients arrived.
“We still have to train and hire staff and get all the IT systems, computers, forms and such in place,” he said. “But we’d like to start seeing patients in May or June.”
His introduction to the behavioral health area was largely trial by fire: Freeman Health System’s CEO offered him the CEO job at Ozark Center, which is “quite large by mental health standards,” said Willcoxon, who had initial misgivings about the post due to his lack of experience in the mental health arena.
He accepted the job and nine months later got “a real eye-opener” when the 2011 tornado hit Joplin. “We lost half of our 20 locations in the community overnight, so it was a very quick learning curve on how to treat people’s trauma, mental illness and anxieties. It was unfortunate, but really a great time to learn and grow in the behavioral health area.”
He gleaned valuable lessons concerning “the toll it takes on people physically when they have emotional trauma in their lives. Behavioral health people learned long ago that you’ve got to treat the emotional needs of patients. We tend to forget that on the traditional medical-service side — and treat only the illness.
“The (Joplin) community was experiencing tremendous stress, turmoil and exhaustion; the number of patients we treated for suicide tendencies or stress, despair, depression, anxiety and PTSD, was a big issue. We were gearing up for the better part of a year before we really dealt with the onslaught of people in need of medical behavioral health attention. This cycle of how it affects the human body is one major lesson I took from the experience.”
Willcoxon’s plans for Crestwyn include developing relationships with all classes and all payors, and relying on a corporate structure that promises ample resources for continued growth. The facility’s strengths will transcend technology, Willcoxon said. “What we offer is the passion and the caring and the understanding of how to deal with people who are suffering from mental health issues.”
He views his management style as servant-leader — one who supports, coaches, mentors and makes sure people have the tools, resources and talent to do their job. “When a doctor or caregiver lays hands on a patient, that point of interaction has to be 100 percent perfect. My job is to make sure they have staff in place to do that — the facilities, the equipment, the technology. That philosophy has done very well for me in my career.”
He points with professional pride to his belief that he has always left an organization or a role better than he found it, whether financially or in terms of patient or staff satisfaction.
In his leisure time, Willcoxon enjoys spending time with his wife of 25 years and his two children, both students at Ole Miss.
(And if you’re interested in Willcoxon’s ability to cook on a more visceral level, just ask about his famous scratch cinnamon rolls!)
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