Moments after signing a contract to become Parkland Memorial Hospital’s first new CEO in nearly 30 years, Dr. Fred Cerise said he’s eager to try and improve access and quality of care for residents living in a city with one of the nation’s most dismal uninsured rates.
“I think we all want to do something meaningful when we get up in the morning and there’s just not a lot of things more meaningful than trying to procure a positive experience for someone who is sick and needs care but has limited options for that care,” Cerise said.
His contract begins on March 24 and expires on Sept. 30, 2017. He’ll be paid an annual base salary of $820,000, although he’ll make another $102,498 as incentive pay over the next six months. He’ll be given that money — equal to 25 percent of his salary — in January 2015.
Depending on his performance, the contract, which you can read in full here, approves compensation pay of up to $328,000 a year, which would boost his total salary to $1.15 million. He’s also given a $700 monthly car allowance and the county will cover the cost of relocating his family from Louisiana.
After being introduced by hospital Chairwoman Debbie Branson Monday morning, Cerise shook the hand of a beaming County Judge Clay Jenkins and addressed a room filled with reporters and Parkland personnel.
Cerise, 51, comes to Dallas from Baton Rouge, where he most recently served as associate dean for clinical affairs at Louisiana State University. He was also secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and headed Louisiana’s public hospital system from 2007 until 2012.
He takes the reins during a period of transition for Dallas County’s public hospital, which will move into a new 2.5 million square foot campus in 2015. Parkland also last year completed a $75 million overhaul that corrected 499 regulatory issues cited by Medicaid and Medicare officials that almost resulted in its federal funding being yanked.
“It would be easy, but a mistake, to say that Dr. Cerise takes over Parkland at a time when Parkland’s challenges have been fixed,” Jenkins said.
As a public hospital, funding remains an issue. Jenkins, a Democrat, noted that Texas’ refusal to expand Medicaid means the onus of paying for uninsured residents falls to the taxpayers. Some estimates put Dallas County as the urban center with the nation’s highest uninsured rate: 31 percent of its residents lack coverage, the left-leaning Center for American Progress found.
More than 1 million Dallas County residents are treated at Parkland each year. In 2012, Jenkins said the hospital spent $682 million in uncompensated care for uninsured residents. That amount soared in 2013 to $762 million.
“That number is exploding,” Jenkins said. “Politicians in both parties seem unwilling to get together and come together with some competent solutions to expand Medicaid or do the sort of things necessary to help men and women in this population here at Parkland. So it’s a very challenging time for Dr. Cerise to take the reins.”
According to media reports, Cerise is no stranger to this fight. Louisiana, like Texas, refused to expand Medicaid, and Cerise was a vocal critic of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s decision. LSU later created a position over him and, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, notified him via email that he would no longer be leading the public hospital system.
On Monday, Cerise noted the challenges that come with funding a safety-net hospital system. His statements focused on providing effective and efficient care for those who need it most. He did not delve into politics nor suggest a fix-all to the challenges.
His contract, however, requires the hospital to remain accredited by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and maintain all state-issued medical licenses under his watch. Parkland’s finances must also adhere to the budget approved by the Dallas County Commissioners Court.
On Monday evening, Cerise will attend his first of five town hall meetings hosted by Dallas County Commissioners that will allow residents to ask him questions. He said he expects access to care to be a significant concern.
“I won’t be saying a lot; I’ll be doing a lot of listening,” he said. “That’s the point of those meetings, for me to get out and hear what people in the communities that we serve have to say. As I get oriented and try to understand the pressing issues, like the public enemy No. 1? I’ll probably learn what public enemy numbers one through 10 are.”
Cerise follows former CEO Ron Anderson, whose 29-year tenure ended in December 2011 when his contract was not renewed. Head here to see when and where each of the question-and-answer sessions are being held.
