LAKE COUNTY — Sutter Lakeside Hospital (SLH) CEO Kelly Mather announced Thursday her plans to resign Sept. 2, when she will start a new position in the hospital”s parent network, Sutter Health. Mather came to Lake County and became the hospital”s CEO in 2001.
Mather said she plans to bring her wellness initiatives and “healing hospital” model to other Sutter Health facilities throughout Northern California in her new position.
“There are no specific plans about location change yet, but I like Lake County,” Mather said.
Mather said the new leadership position offers not only the same pay and benefits, but also “the opportunity of a lifetime” to spread the concept she started at SLH.
“Individuals have the ability to heal themselves, and health care organizations are there to support healing. That”s what a healing hospital and center for health will do in the future. And you do that by educating, and by helping people improve their lifestyles so they don”t get ill,” Mather said.
The model Mather developed at SLH involves four levels of healing, including healing the signs and symptoms of disease, lifestyle changes, emotional wellness and spiritual health.
Dr. Jonathan Davies, vice-chief of staff at SLH, said he felt comfortable speaking for the hospital”s staff in saying Mather will be missed.
“She has left a tremendous legacy of wellness, and has made our hospital easily the strongest and most successful it”s ever been,” Davies said.
Part of her success, according to Davies, was changing the hospital”s designation to critical-access, or CAH (critical-access hospital). The change became effective June 17, and meant reducing the number of beds from 69 to 25.
“CAH status was what I believed was the best decision for Sutter Lakeside. There was a lot of worry about what might happen, but the major concerns have been allayed. There were not that many transfers because we”re smaller,” Mather said.
She said the change to CAH status also meant the hospital will get 101 percent Medi-Cal reimbursement. Before the switch, Mather said, the hospital lost approximately 40 percent of its cost per Medi-Cal patient.
“We lost $1 million in 2007. This year, I predict we will make $1 million,” Mather said.
Mather said she has been planning to resign for about a year, and was waiting until the hospital was more financially stable. Getting a CAH designation for the hospital has accomplished that, according to Mather.
“Now, having completed the CAH designation, we”re very stable and able to go through this transition without any great upheaval,” Davies said.
Mather became CEO of San Leandro Hospital in 1996 at age 28.
The Sutter Lakeside Board of Directors is searching for a successor, and will “rely on existing local and regional leadership to oversee hospital operations” in the meantime, according to a Thursday press release.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
