The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer and former Detroit News business reporter, writes a blog, Starkman Approved.
By Eric Starkman
Corewell Health’s top executives don’t appear that into working for Tina Freese Decker, CEO of Michigan’s biggest hospital network.
And for that matter, it appears neither do trauma orthopedic surgeons working at Corewell’s flagship Butterworth hospital in Grand Rapids, the biggest Tier 1 trauma center in western Michigan.
Alejandro (Ace) Quiroga
Just weeks after former chief operating officer Darryl Elmouchi resigned to join Providence Health & Services in Washington state, Alejandro (Ace) Quiroga, who was president of Corewell’s western Michigan operations, has resigned to become CEO of Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Missouri.
Quiroga was promoted to his position in April of last year, meaning he lasted for 18 months. That’s an eternity in Freese Decker’s management ranks. Benjamin Schwartz, a hotshot physician from a major New York hospital system Freese Decker lured to run Corewell’s Detroit area hospitals, left after only 13 months on the job, reportedly after clashing with Freese Decker.
Respected pediatrician
Tina Freese Decker
Quiroga is a respected pediatrician, Elmouchi is a board-certified cardiologist with an MBA from the University of Michigan, and Schwartz is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and holds a master’s in healthcare management from Harvard. All three physicians strike me as being considerably more qualified to oversee a major hospital system than Freese Decker, who holds a Master of Health Administration and Master of Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa.
Indeed, multiple sources told me that when Freese Decker was named to succeed former Spectrum Health CEO Richard Breon in 2018, many of the hospital’s physicians objected. Speculation is rife that Freese Decker got the appointment because her father was friends with Breon.
Freese Decker two years ago orchestrated the takeover of Metro Detroit’s former Beaumont Health, a once highly regarded regional hospital system that precipitously declined under the aggressive cost cutting ways of former CEO John Fox. The combined Spectrum and Corewell hospital systems were rebranded as Corewell Health.
Ex-Beaumont CEO John Fox
Fox disclosed that he tried shopping Beaumont to more than 100 hospital systems, and Freese Decker took the bait. Fox said Beaumont had a $4 billion reserve when Freese Decker took over the operations. It’s not clear if that money is being used to improve Corewell’s troubled Detroit-area operations.
What’s certain is that Corewell is ripe for the picking for healthcare recruiters looking to poach hospital management and physician talent.
Memo to employees
Freese Decker disclosed Quroga’s departure in a memo to employees. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Josh Kooistra, the hospital’s chief medical officer.
Darryl Elmouchi
Freese Decker also disclosed that she expects it will take six to nine months to find a replacement for Elmouchi. Chad Tuttle, senior vice president and head of clinical shared services, will serve as interim COO. Freese Decker said Tuttle has no interest in holding the job on a permanent basis.
James Moses, who oversees quality, safety and experience at Corewell’s western Michigan hospitals, has been named to the newly created role of chief clinical officer, reporting directly to Freese Decker.
Lucky him!
Trauma with trauma surgeons
I’m told that Kooistra, Tuttle, and Moses would be wise to focus on the shortage of orthopedic trauma surgeons at Corewell’s flagship Tier 1 Butterworth trauma hospital in Grand Rapids.
Among the issues that made Elmouchi, the former COO, unpopular with the medical staff was his insistence at the height of the pandemic that physicians sign noncompete agreements. According to a source, two of Butterworth’s trauma orthopedic surgeons – Andrew Fras and Blake Miller – refused to sign and resigned.
Fras and Miller continue to work as surgeons in Grand Rapids at Trinity Health Orthopedic Surgery where both have received rave patient reviews.
In the past six months or so, three additional trauma orthopedic surgeons have left or taken leaves at Butterworth, creating a critical shortage.
Corewell spokesman Mark Geary ignored a request for comment.
Inopportune time
The departures come at an inopportune time for Freese Decker, who next month will become chair of the American Hospital Association (AHA), a trade group focused on promoting the financial interests of hospitals and their CEOs. In addition to smarting from the departures of two critical executives, recently more than 9,000 nurses at Corewell’s Detroit area hospitals overwhelmingly voted to unionize and join the Teamsters.
Spokesman Mark Geary
The move apparently caught Freese Decker by surprise. Spokesman Geary told the Detroit News that Corewell’s management was confident its nurses didn’t want a union.
This might be news to Freese Decker, but nurses at Corewell’s western Michigan hospitals are ramping up their union organizing efforts and are confident they will prevail.
“It’s a harder (union) drive over here in conservative country, but I think that enough nurses have been screwed over by TFD (Tina Freese Decker) and her minions that once we punch through the union busting BS it will gain a lot of traction,” a source told me.
Hospitals managements despise nurses’ unions because they successfully negotiate improved patient care ratios and higher wages, making less money available for the top executives. Attracting a COO who wants to wade into a possible labor dispute adds to Freese Decker’s recruitment challenges, as will the alarming turnover under her leadership.
Let’s hope AHA members aren’t looking for guidance from Freese Decker on executive leadership retention and union avoidance best practices.
Reach the writer at Eric@starkmanapproved.com. Confidentiality is assured.
