As a transplant from Texas, what do you think of Berks County? I have been primarily entrenched in the medical community, and I’ve said thousands of times that this is probably the best medical staff that I’ve ever worked with.
Was it the hospital that brought you to Reading? It was. I was working with a consulting firm doing turnarounds for troubled health systems. I was very honored and humbled when the board of directors – at that time for Reading Hospital – engaged me permanently as the President and CEO.
Is it true the creation of Tower Health was initiated by Reading Health System? Yes. We took on the acquisition role of five community hospitals early last summer. We closed on that acquisition on Oct. 1, 2017. At that time, we also became Tower Health. Reading Health was too provincial in name, and we always recognized the significance of our clock tower; it was emblematic of quality and care for the community that we served. So we thought Tower Health would be a good name for the new entity.
What was the motivation behind the acquisitions? We understood that Reading Health could stand alone for a period of time, but there was so much consolidation going on around us that we knew we would find ourselves as the lone man standing. Rather than sitting back and waiting, we seized an opportunity. I think it was better for us to define our own destiny rather than someone else doing it for us.
Do you think being a part of this new larger system will impact the residents of Berks? We have been on a mission to grow and develop the quality of services as well as the quality of care that we provide to Berks County. In the past four years, we have gone from being ranked 34th in the Commonwealth to sixth according to US News and World Report. That’s significant. It’s easier to travel up 422 to Reading for the new communities that we serve than driving down the Schuylkill Expressway into center city Philadelphia, and the quality of care that we provide matches or exceeds nationally and internationally acclaimed health systems. So I think Reading Hospital, and now Tower Health, has certainly made its mark on the medical community within Berks and in Pennsylvania as a whole.
Now that the acquisition is behind you, how do you like to spend your free time? It’s my wife Debby and I here – Debby is an incredible woman and we really enjoy spending our time together. We cook together; we play a little golf – although with this type of job there’s not a lot of time for golf. We try to be physically fit, so we both have exercise regimens, and we spend time with friends.
