CEO wants Mount Carmel success to be widely known
If you’re one of Mount Carmel Health System’s 13,000 employees, here’s a bit of advice for when you meet the new boss: Say cheese.
Ed Lamb, who was hired in September as CEO of the not-for-profit Catholic health-care network, has been making the rounds of Mount Carmel’s hospitals, emergency-care facilities, physician offices and more. And he’s documented his initiation with selfies.
“We did not want a CEO who would be sitting in an office locked away from everyone,” said board Chairwoman Lisa Stein. “Ed wants to get to know people. He is not shy.”
Q: What is your sense of the Mount Carmel organization since you’ve been here?
A: Mount Carmel doesn’t tell its story very well. We’ve got to do a better job in, not being bodacious, but being proud of telling what’s going on here. Mount Carmel New Albany is one of the top two orthopedic hospitals in the nation. Nobody knows that. We have to tell that story. … At Mount Carmel East, we have one of the top structural heart programs in the nation. Nobody knows about it. We have to tell that story.
Q: What does a faith component add to health care?
A: We do a really good job of curing people of illness. Mount Carmel has an ability to help people heal, as well, because of our faith base. We’re not afraid to talk about those kinds of things. We’re not afraid to introduce the faith component into the healing process.
Q: How does your Mormon faith align with the religious principles that guide Mount Carmel?
A: Our values are very closely aligned. We both revere the sanctity of life. We both have a very, very strong foundation in family. We both believe that core values should drive the way we act and behave. I did not feel any disjointedness about that whatsoever. In fact, when I had my interview with the board, you know, there are certain HR things you’re not going to ask in an interview. I said, “Look, I know there are things you want to ask me that you can’t, so I’m giving you permission to do that.”
Q: How did you get to this point in your career?
A: As a kid, I watched “Marcus Welby” all the time. I always wanted to be Marcus Welby. I wanted to be a pediatrician. That is how I started thinking about health care. I was a junior volunteer, volunteered thousands of hours at a hospital in Las Vegas, where I grew up. … After I had my third child, I realized I could not divorce my emotional energies from a hurting baby and be an effective physician. I was working as a registered medical technologist. … The CEO of this small hospital I was working at recognized, I guess, some potential there and said, “Why don’t you come and look at health-care leadership and administration.” He gave me some opportunities. I went back to get my master’s degree, and the rest is history. Thirty-two years later, here I am.
Q: How did you perceive the healthcare debate in last year’s presidential campaign?
A: I really get annoyed when I hear dialogue that goes on and says health
care in the United States is a disaster. I beg to differ. Health care in the United States is incredible. We have a lot more transparency in the United States than many other countries do, and yet we compare ourselves to other countries that purport that they’re doing so much better in this or that. They’re not apples-to-apples comparisons. I really get annoyed with that.
Q: What are your thoughts about health-care reform?
A: Mount Carmel and our parent company, Trinity, are very focused on making sure the debate has discussion around making sure that whatever happens in this period of time between repeal and reform that we don’t lose the funding and we don’t lose the care. We hope … that we’ll have a system that is comprehensive. It’s got to be affordable. If it’s not affordable, then you might as well forget the whole system. And it’s got to be value-based. We believe in our ability to bring value and to get paid for that value that we’re providing.
Q: What is your vision for Mount Carmel?
A: My vision for the organization is very simple. It’s focused around this saying: I don’t care about being the biggest. I care about being the best.