Family helps draw new SAMC CEO to Douglas

It helps to have strong relationships, especially family relationships.

That family relationship attracted new Southeast Arizona Medical Center CEO Brian Bickel to Douglas.

Bickel is married to the daughter of Dr. George and Lucia Spikes.

The local hospital has a long-term history of financial problems, and that has been one of Bickel’s strengths at the other facilities.

“It is not an uncommon problem among small hospitals in the U.S. Small hospitals can and do have a difficult time.”

Bickel said he is still in the discovery stage at the hospital. He started at the beginning of May.

“We are looking to see if there is an opportunity to  reduce expenses without impacting patient care.

He said the hospital is also looking at changes in the business office.

“People were not billed for up to a couple of years, then all of a sudden they start getting bills.. We’ve also missed opportunities to collect from insurance carriers,” Bickel said.

He did say though that the hospital appears to overstaffed at this point.

Some of the larger decisions will involve the construction of a new hospital and whether to petition for a special taxing district for the hospital.

Bickel has been working in executive positions in the medical field for the last 10 years.

His most recent position was serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Howard Memorial Hospital in Nashville Arkansas. The facility is similar in size to Southeast Arizona Medical Center and during his time there, Bickel:

• Developed a Facility Master Plan.

• Increased days cash on hand from four to 50 in an 18-month period.

• Revised patient financial services and reduced days in account receivable from 104 to 47 in two years.

• Participated in the revision of statewide Rural Health Plan with the Arkansas Office of Rural Health and Primary Care.

• Developed a fund-raising program for the Howard Memorial Hospital Foundation which produced donations of over $200,000 in four years.

Previous stops  included CEO at Community Health Systems, Plateau Medical Center, Oak Hill Virginia; COO at Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell, New Mexico; Assistant CEO at Barstow Community Hospital in Barstow, California; and Assistant CEO at Highland Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas.