MORGANTOWN — Mon Health’s new president and CEO just marked his first month on the job.
David Goldberg started his first day a month ago at 5:30 a.m., greeting employees. He’s rounded on the floors, donned a hairnet in the kitchen, ridden along with EMS and visited all the system facilities.
“What we have built here is the epitome of a community-focused system,” he said. “I feel the difference in care here from other places I go and I’ve been. It’s about the people; the people make it happen. … What we do is a calling and I’m proud to be part of the journey with Mon Health.”
Goldberg earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from WVU in the 1990s and has come back after stints in Texas and in Pittsburgh at Highmark Health’s Alleghany Health Network.
“I love Morgantown,” he said. Except for his time in Texas, he always made a point to attend WVU home games. He’s served on WVU advisory committees and now sits on the visiting committee for the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
He and his wife of 20 years, Noel, met here. Their oldest daughter has been accepted at WVU – but hasn’t made up her mind yet where she’ll attend, and their youngest will finish high school here.
In a sense, he said, they were all alone in Pittsburgh. His wife’s family lives in Virginia and his extended family is in northern New Jersey. But they have family here in Morgantown. It was his adopted godfather, a retired physician, who told him about the opening at Mon.
“I wasn’t looking for a job. I had a great job in Pittsburgh.” But he got the call form his godfather about the opening here. He considered the “fantastic facilities” and the staff. “The doctors are some of the best in the nation, right here in Morgantown, right here at Mon Health. It was exciting to potentially become a part of it.”
He reached out, talked to people, got all positive remarks. “You can feel the difference when you come into this hospital and you walk it. It is magnificent. It is clean. People smile. People look you in the eye. They lead you from placed to place. It’s neighbor to neighbor. … Why would you not want to be a part of an organization like that, to continue to grow it and focus it on what the community needs, which is advanced community care right here in Morgantown.”
WVU Medicine and Mon Health have long walked a fine line of rivalry and collaboration. For instance, the day after Goldberg spoke to The Dominion Post, WVU sued Mon Health over contract issues concerning two cardiologists who left WVU for Mon.
But on the day of his interview, he said, “I believe there’s a place in this community for Mon Health and WVU Medicine to function.” One is an academic, nationally renowned hospital; one is community based.
“No one should have to leave this area for care. We can do that together, and independently. I don’t believe we need to be rivals. I don’t think we need to compete. I think we need to collaborate for what’s best for the community.”
In August, The Dominion Post spoke with Goldberg’s immediate predecessor, interim CEO Tom Senker, about financial reports showing Mon Health operating in the red. Goldberg picked up on themes Senker addressed at the time.
“The board made some really courageous decisions to make investments for the future – acquiring and employing physicians to shore up the community needs, have access points around the community, make sure we have the best and the brightest at any location a patient needs access,” he said.
This investments load debt at the front end, he said, as would a road bond issue or a major business project. But those investments pay off with benefits.
“The operational improvement plan is going extremely well. The hospital is doing well financially. We continue to look to optimize all our performance.”
As a not-for profit, he said, Mon Health wants to make sure all its resources are dedicated to patient betterment and community health. And they have significant resources and reserves to make those investments.
And they’re hiring, concentrating first on clinical positons, he said.
“We’re going to stay independent. Whisper campaigns that WVU is buying us are false.” As are rumors of a UPMC or Cleveland Clinic takeover. Mon’s focus is on strategic and beneficial growth.
“We have an incredible clinician base to draw from. We are as sustainable and as high quality any other provider you are going to find.” Growth will focus on where Mon facilities need to be to provide the right care at the right time and the right price.
“We’re going to continue to grow in a way that’s appropriate for our size and scale. But we’re also going to collaborate where it makes sense. … If we keep the center of what we do, everything else makes sense.”
West Virginia is wrestling, he said, with the opioid crisis, with people wrestling with cancer, lung disorders, diabetes, cardiac issues – often with two or more of those at a time. There has to be a shift in thinking from a sick-care system to being healthcare system.
“It starts with us educating ur population to be more healthy, to make better choices, and to partner with them in their healthcare needs.” Primary care physicians have to be available when and where people need them – along the lines of Wedgewood, with its extended and weekend walk-in hours. Emergency rooms are for emergencies, not a fallback for primary care.
As healthcare continues to transition, he said, “Our job now is to make sure we continue to be viable,” to provide the best service at the right location and time with the best price.
About 30 percent of the nation’s healthcare system is waste he said – including needless duplication of services. Mon Health, for instance, doesn’t need to develop a pediatric or neuroscience services. WVU has those. Some services, of course, the community wants and needs and it’s proper for both to have cardiology, pulmonology and so on.
Mon can collaborate and build. “But not overbuild, over compete, overdevelop when you already have great infrastructure in the community. That’s how we’re going to drive down cost, we’re going to manage our population’s health and we’re going to have a more healthy, robust community from it.”
Mon Health wants to continue it extend its primary care net, he said, to make sure every patient has
a medical home, to navigate patients where they need to go.
But a major goal, Goldberg said, is managing prescription costs. “The expense for people to buy a medicine is astronomical.” Mon Health wants to build a retail pharmacy so they can drop the cost and improve education for people who need access to meds.
Pharmacy already joins on rounds so the pharmacists can explain medications and answer questions, he said. With the in-house retail pharmacy, Mon Health will take care of “first fill,” making sure discharged patients get enough meds to start and get by when the go home. And they’ll have an integrated medical record to continue getting the right meds.
He also wants patients to know what medical services cost so they can make smart choices about where they seek care. They’ve already begun instructing patients about those costs.
“That’s how the healthcare system is going to change, because when people know, they can hold people accountable and go to the right place for the care that they can afford.” Keeping, in mind, he said, “We can’t take quality out of the equation.”
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Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
