A CES Success Story

Sourcing Leaders to Unify

a Home Health and Hospice Care System

Robert Hellrigel has spent a significant part of his healthcare administrator years guiding senior and community service operations. He has battled through his share of challenges. Yet few compare to trials he faced soon after he took the helm of the senior and community services division for Providence Health System, near Seattle, WA. There, Robert found himself working in a complex faith-based statewide health system that had a long tradition of providing excellent quality care, but was at the time operating in a somewhat fragmented manner. One of the principal objectives in his job was to bring the programs together and impose a more rational structure to operations.

In the midst of implementing his unification plan, the system doubled in size due to the merger of Providence Health Systems and Providence Health Services, which was also sponsored by the Sisters of Providence. Leading into and coming out of the 2006 merger, Robert devoted much of his time to extensive planning needed to unite and reorganize the various ministries of the two healthcare systems.  Robert, whom CES Partners placed a few years earlier as head of Long Term Care, had recently been promoted to Chief Executive of Senior and Community Services with responsibility for both LTC and In-Home Services in the Washington/Montana Region.  He developed a strategic business plan to restructure the businesses to achieve new financial, operational and growth objectives.

The In-Home Services division consisted of programs in four locations in Western Washington, each operating as a hospital-based program reporting to a local hospital executive.  Despite being the largest provider of home health and hospice services in the state with 13,000 discharges annually, a $75 million budget and a 150-year history, the Providence agencies were operating below their potential. Common  standards, procedures and systems were not in place, and there was scant sharing of information or resources. Important staff positions remained vacant. An urgent need existed for stronger business and fiscal management practices and more effective communications among program directors.

Robert saw that the key to improving the In-Home Services division was the recruitment of an executive who would contribute to the strategy and execute the plan to restructure the home health and hospice programs.  The newly created position of Operations Administrator (de facto CEO of In-Home Services) would be charged with unifying the agencies under divisional management and thereby gain efficiencies, identify and institute best practices, and achieve a consistent quality of care throughout the organization.  Without hesitation, Robert reached out to CES Partners to assist the Providence organization with this critical search. 

The Position Specifications CES Partners developed from discussions with Robert and other key stakeholders profiled an individual whose unique experience set would limit the potential candidate pool.  The ideal candidate needed to be an executive currently serving in a large, complex home health and/or hospice organization (preferably both) who had successfully led an organization through a similar integration or merger. The best candidate would need to be clinically grounded as well as adept at both board and community relations. In addition to possessing exemplary business, financial and people management skills, this change management executive would need to embrace the mission and core values of the Providence culture.

CES Partners launched a nationwide search to develop a slate of qualified candidates. CES identified a number of qualified individuals, including the ultimately successful hire, Kate O’Neil, former COO of VNA of Boston. Although initially resistant because she was happy in her current situation, Kate’s face-to-face meeting with CES convinced her that the opportunity and challenge at Providence was worth exploring.

Upon meeting the candidate, Robert immediately agreed that Kate represented an excellent fit, both professionally and personally, and recognized a kindred spirit who would not only effectively lead In-Home Services but would also be a valued partner to him in building the Senior and Community Services division.

Kate is now successfully leading Providence In-Home Services.  She enjoys living in the Seattle area and has won respect throughout the Providence Health & Services organization.  Upon her hiring, industry leaders commented that CES Partners “couldn’t have found a better person for the job” and expressed surprise that the search firm was able to recruit her away from VNA of Boston. 

Kate and Robert enjoy a mutually invigorating working relationship, and the strategic business plan for In-Home Services is progressing well. In particular, Robert was thrilled at Kate’s willingness to address one of the biggest obstacles, a “polarization” that had been brewing among the existing home health programs. She began immediately to replace it with a “shared vision of having one ministry” and common-ground platforms that would allow the sibling programs to work together and draw from one another while expanding and strengthening the entire PH&S family.

Kate is progressing with several key objectives she accepted when she took on the Operations Administrator role. This includes developing a common information technology infrastructure for four agencies as well as expanding and growing In-Home Services’ share of market. Also still on the horizon is bringing yet a fifth Providence sibling into the “shared vision” fold, a VNA operating in Montana and Eastern Washington.

A few months after arriving at Providence, Kate asked CES Partners to help recruit a new Executive Director for the largest home health and hospice agency in her division, SoundHomeCare and Hospice in Olympia, Washington. This agency had undergone considerable turmoil and was being managed by a consultant.  With the impending integration of SoundHomeCare into In-Home Services and disengagement from local reporting, it was imperative that the new Executive Director be on board within three months to manage the process.  Again change management skills, home health and hospice credibility, and good business sense were required.  In this case, CES focused efforts on the Northwest and West regions and found Marian Johnson, a very talented executive overseeing multiple departments at a hospital in Portland, Oregon.  Like Kate, Marian is proving to be an excellent addition to the Providence management team.

Robert Hellrigel expressed his thoughts about working with CES Partners, stating, “The CES process clearly demonstrated to me the competitive advantage of partnering with a recruiter who not only understands the complexities of Providence but can articulate them clearly to potential recruits.” 

“Valid partnership and true collaboration, as opposed to token platitudes or pretense, are vital to bringing about successful outcomes, especially with organizations like Providence,” concurs Barry Cesafsky, president of CES Partners. Not surprising, CES has completed over 20 successful searches since their partnership with Robert and Providence Health & Services was established several years ago. The relationship between PH&S and CES Partners continues. 

To learn more about Providence Health & Services, visit www.providence.org. Providence Health & Services is an integrated healthcare system employing more than 45,000 people in a network of more than two dozen hospitals, plus physician clinics, a health plan, a liberal arts university, and hospice and home care programs serving communities in five states.