FRONT AND CENTER: Tim Johnsen

Hospital executive provides service over the long run

Tim Johnsen of Hot Springs
Tim Johnsen of Hot Springs

— Tim Johnsen, president of St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs, was recently appointed to a full three-year term as a director of the Arkansas Hospital Association.

The association serves about 100 hospitals, related health care institutions and their patients around the state and works toward the “improvement of the delivery of health care services throughout Arkansas.”

Johnsen, 47, said he has been involved in customer service since he was 14 years old in St. Louis.

“I got a job as counter help at the Dairy Queen because they were one of the few places I could work before I was 16,” he said. “I learned to make the Q at the top of the ice cream cone and how to serve the public.”

Today, as the CEO of a major hospital, the concept of service is still at the center of Johnsen’s concept of management.

“As a nurse, I could affect the lives of one or two people a day,” he said. “As an administrator, I felt I could help hundreds of people and affect patient care on a much larger level by changing a protocol or some other action.”

In his current position, while he remains concerned about bottom-line issues such as budgets, supplies and new innovations, Johnsen still seeks out opportunities to meet with patients and talk to them about the care they are receiving.

“Several times a week, I will try to go around and talk with patients. That enriches my day and my satisfaction with the work, and it is good for the team if I see them and the patients firsthand,” he said. “All of us get so busy with tasks that we can overlook people and miss opportunities to strengthen relationships.”

Johnsen came to Hot Springs as the chief operating officer at St. Joseph’s Mercy in September 2006 and took over as the chief executive of the medical complex in 2007. He began to build relationships with doctors, staff and patients because he faced a challenge of bringing operating costs down.

“There were some brutal decisions that had to be made for work-force reduction,” Johnsen said. “It was the most grueling work of my career.”

Johnsen said he wanted not only to save money, but also to improve patient services and customer satisfaction. Johnsen said that was done by reviewing the entire process. Sometimes steps were removed that reduced costs but also quickened response times for patient care.

The hospital joined in these efforts with the entire Mercy Health System of 28 hospitals to revamp its supply chain and take other steps to become more efficient. New technologies are being used within the system. Johnsen said he tries to make sure the new systems enhance patient care rather than get in the way.

“With the new one-patient, one-record system, a physician has all the patient’s records available on the computer,” he said. “We found doctors looking at the computer, and we want them to keep their focus on the patients, talking with them.”

Johnsen has been involved with direct health care during his entire career. He attended nursing school in Missouri and first worked in the critical-care unit of St. John’s Regional Health Center in Springfield, Mo.

Later he took his skills into the air as a flight nurse on helicopters. Johnsen said the experience in air ambulances provided him with a wide range of medical challenges and helped develop his skills.

“When you are in a hospital and things get bad for a patient, you can push a button and have 10 people helping you in a few seconds,” Johnsen said. “On the helicopter, you had no one to call on, and you needed to find a way to do what was needed by yourself.”

During his six years working with medical flights, he became the program’s director, and that was his first step into administration.

Returning to school, Johnsen received both a master’s degree in science and health and a master’s degree in business administration.

Johnsen’s next job was as manager of an emergency room at a hospital in Bolivar, Mo., where he later became chief operating officer.

Johnsen joined Mercy Health Care System in 2003, and St. Joseph’s Mercy in Hot Springs is his second hospital assignment within the system. He said the company’s heritage as a Catholic health care provider, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1888, fits in well with his own concept of health care as a ministry.

“The idea of our work as a ministry has a very strong foundation here. We are lucky to have three of the sisters still working with us here. Many of the Mercy hospitals don’t have any,” Johnsen said. “Many here feel medicine is a calling to help people, and that reflects the values of the sisters.”

Johnsen said the hospital in Hot Springs was formed to help the poor and disadvantaged, and that legacy remains a part of the medical center’s culture.

“We talk about the ‘Mercy Fit,’ which is a belief in caring, that we look for when we talk to people about working here,” he said.

Recruiting people is a major concern for Johnsen, he said. Sometimes he finds that young doctors first resist the idea of moving to Arkansas.

“But once we get a physician to see Hot Springs and the quality of life here, along with the natural beauty, and then tell them what a supportive community we have, we feel we can attract the best to come here,” he said.

Johnsen is as focused on achievement in his recreation as he is with his work at the medical center. Since coming to Hot Springs, Johnsen has become a runner.

“I didn’t have any sports in school, but I started running for weight management. When I started, I couldn’t go a half mile without stopping,” he said.

However, he kept at it, even running at 5 a.m. to avoid the summer heat in the Spa City. He began to run with a doctor from the hospital, and that gave the exercise a competitive edge, Johnsen said.

On Oct. 10, he and Dr. Chris Young were among the 45,000 participants in the Chicago Marathon.

The hospital president set a goal of running the 26 miles in four hours and 30 minutes, but extraordinary heat on the day of the race slowed him to a time of five hours and nine minutes.

“It seemed the first 20 miles were easy, but the last six were terrible,” he said. “I would tell myself to run to a sign, and then I would pick out the next landmark and set a goal of reaching it.”

Johnsen said the crowd of more than a million spectators along the route of the race cheered the racers on, and that also helped him finish the race.

His next goal is to take part in the Spa City 10K run up West Mountain. As with his work, Johnsen sets his goals and keeps at it for the long run.

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