Strategic planning, perseverance, and leadership pay off for Wellsville’s hospital
By Andrew Harris
When this year’s Annual Report from Jones Memorial Hospital arrived in the mail I opened it and started to give it the speed-read. My eye was drawn to some of the data provided which indicated that something happened, something major, and it reflected in the financials.
In 2018 Jim Helms was the Chief Financial Officer for Jones Memorial Hospital and a plan to attack mounting losses was in the early implementation stages.
The board, then CEO Eva Benedict, Helms, and team were focused on a plan to optimize relationships with the University of Rochester system which includes Dansville’s Noyes and Hornell’s St. James. A major push to minimize hospitalization and optimize outpatient care had started in the industry about ten years prior. Planned expansion into Olean, Alfred, Andover, Hornell, and at home were key to making Jones Memorial a regional service provider.
With help from New York State, the plan was working. Then, in 2020, COVID arrived and all the plans in the world were replaced with the chaos that unfolded.
Jones Memorial served the community admirably and that required major sacrifice and dedication from the entire staff. The government subsidized the loss of income from countless cancelled surgeries, rehab visits, laboratory visits. But that funding ended in 2022 as quickly as the pandemic started. Unfortunately, the higher labor and supply costs did not end.
The narrative in the annual report came more into focus after an hour-long conversation with now CEO Jim Helms in his Wellsville office. Jim recounted the events with precision, starting with his first days as Chief Financial Officer at Jones Memorial in 2018. The hospital was facing multi-million dollar losses and recovering from a massive cyber-attack. Then CEO Eva Benedict, then CFO Helms, and an experienced board knew that a paradigm-shift change was needed. The team came up with a plan and that plan was taking shape just when the pandemic struck.
As COVID faded and the hospital slowly resumed full service they faced a labor shortage and historic inflation. Jones Memorial continued to rely on traveling nurses instead of staff nurses, creating a major increase in labor costs. Inflation peaked and with that, the time it would take for the hospital to recover grew longer.
Helms and the Jones Memorial Hospital board faced a difficult choice: Retreat or push forward with the plans in place.
As a retired Command Sargeant Major in the US Army, Helms led his troops forward with the solid battle plans created pre-pandemic. Jones Memorial fortified relationships with the University of Rochester and gained key support for expanding services where demand existed. Logistical, technical, and medical support from the University were used to create a tactical advantage that was essential to this success story.
The story caught my eye when I was speed reading through the annual report from Jones Memorial that arrived bulk mail. Actually, the graph below caught my eye: A ten million dollar turn around in one year?? For an organization with a $75 million dollar annual budget this was a dramatic financial story.
What had happened?
New primary care practices were established in Alfred and Andover. Infusion clinics were established in Olean and Hornell, servicing much larger populations in neighboring counties. The massive expenses of contract staff and traveling nurses have been largely mitigated as the labor market returned to some sense of pre-COVID normalcy.
Revenues from profit centers increased, expenses from the economic disruption abated, and a closer relationship with the University of Rochester and the affiliate hospitals translated into multiple operating efficiencies.
The plan hatched before the world ever heard of COVID-19 worked.
It worked so well that today Jones Memorial Hospital has been transformed, inside and out.
The major capital project of 2022-24 was an architectural home-run. The new look brought a modern confidence into the village of Wellsville landscape. The big changes reflect the big investment into the future which has mirrored the financial changes.
Jones Memorial Hospital has now emerged from two global pandemics in the 102 year history. The hospital has also grown and improved through the recent challenges to become a regional healthcare leader with a three-county footprint.
Hospital Board Member and Vice President with ALCO Federal Credit Union Jim Knapp had this to say about Helms and his team:
“Jim Helms and his administration have put together a winning team and I am honored to serve on the Board! We are grateful to have such good leadership during these challenging times”
Jones Memorial has a storied history, has been led by some amazing doctors and administrators, and survived countless challenges since 1921. In that history a full chapter is dedicated to the story of the pandemic of 2020 and the stunning recovery of Wellsville institution.
Congratulations to the entire Jones Memorial Hospital team, from the CEO to the volunteers. This “ten million dollar” turnaround is a gift to not just our community, but now our neighboring communities.
Here are some links to stories that have been part of this latest chapter in hospital history:
