A Conversation With ... Dr. John Duff

Following a strategic partnership finalized in September 2012 and effective Jan. 1, 2013, Skaggs Medical Center took on the moniker Cox Medical Center Branson. How did that name come about?
We were very sensitive to the name change. We know the Skaggs name is a very proud one and one in the community for quite some time. We learned as we spoke with the community, while they did value the name, they also were looking forward to a new change in their health care. On their advice, we choose the new name. It also helps unify Branson with other Cox facilities. It moves it into a common brand and a common understanding of who we are and what we are about. It also helps the community understand, it is a new day for that hospital.

The public sees the signs change on the outside, but from a business standpoint, what does it take to makeover a hospital from top to bottom?
The signage is often the first and most visible change. We wasted no time on that. Really, the whole process began even before Skaggs chose us as their partner. It began during the initial phase of getting to know each other. We spent a lot of time with leaders from the hospital and the community to understand what they valued. Both sides needed to agree there was a good fit. It’s often said, more mergers fail as a result of a poor cultural fit than any other reason.

Going into it, we anticipated and looked forward to the opportunity to reduce redundancy and duplication. We wanted to identify what areas, whether it’s here in Springfield, Branson or our Monett campus, where we are doing extremely well and make sure things are better done elsewhere. We have not moved a lot of services, but worked to standardize the way things are run across the three systems. In many cases, we have brought them under common leadership. We have developed strong relationships among our managers and they rely on each other in both directions. We were excited from day one about having Branson as part of CoxHealth. We recognized from the onset that they provide valuable services to that community. We respect the quality of their medical services, but recognized some of those services had fallen a bit as hard times hit. A number of senior level leadership changes, some financial hard times and limitations on their capital were factors.

One year and more than $100 million invested later, what has the outcome been?
There are still things we are working on and I suspect there will be for quite sometime, but we have made good progress. We are where we had anticipated at this point.

We knew to be a success in Branson, we needed to be well received in the community. We took some additional steps and participated in some charitable events and reached out to business and community leaders to understand the needs there. We also worked with the Skaggs Foundation there and $500,000 was donated to 18 agencies during this last year.

One of the challenges we faced was really rebuilding Branson’s medical staff. We have brought in a dozen new physicians during the last year and have been able to fill some holes that were hard positions to recruit, such as endocrinology or plastic surgery. Already, we are seeing an improvement in the quality of care in the region. Our efforts to standardize care have helped that.

The facilities were another area we knew going into this that needed attention. Some needed to be repurposed or modified. We inventoried the facility and the needs and identified the priorities. We found we needed to modernize and expand the emergency department, additional critical care beds and an observational unit. We also knew the Branson health system was going to continue to grow and we needed additional shell space.

A strategic plan was developed around those needs and a groundbreaking occurred this summer and we are well underway to meet those needs.

Lastly, it’s hilly around that hospital and it’s challenging to get around that campus. As part of the construction, we also are leveling the terrain and building a loop road.