HI-DESERT MEDICAL CENTER CEO ADMINISTRATOR TELLS IT STRAIGHT, WARTS AND ALL

Last night at Hi-Desert Medical Center, outgoing CEO Chad Chadwick gave a candid examination of the Hospital District’s fiscal health to a diverse dozen people, all past participants in a District-sponsored community outreach program. Assignment reporter Mike Lipsitz has more…
In his review, Dr. Chadwick highlighted the District’s admirable strengths and its sobering weaknesses. Bottom line is that “business as usual” will not be enough to stop the hemorrhaging of cash that Hi-Desert Medical Center has been experiencing for the last few years. Then Dr. Chadwick confided he is leaving because he no longer has the endurance to carry the District, unable to change the downward trajectory of the Basin’s third largest employer. Chadwick suggested his replacement could deliver a new framework. And he said that the Board of Directors will have to engage the community in deciding if it will reduce services and lower standards, pursue a hard-to-win tax measure, or look to affiliate with an outside concern willing to invest in the Hospital. Whatever direction the Board pursues, it must act soon. Chadwick estimated a 12-month timeline before the District runs out of options.