Mike GeeslinCentral Health CEO[/caption]
Central Health announced Mike Geeslin as its new leader in April. At the time of the announcement, Geeslin said his first 90 days would comprise listening and learning.
Since then the beginning of his tenure has been colored with community engagement. As Geeslin’s first 90 days wrapped up, he sat down with Community Impact Newspaper to share what he has learned so far and what he plans to accomplish in the future.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far?
Organizationally, I’ve been very impressed. I would say the challenge was on me to catch up with the rest of the organization. You can’t take an organization and pull it over to the side of the road for six months and wait for somebody to catch up.
Looking forward, some of the bigger challenges will be putting together a business model that is sustainable so that the patients—regardless of what happens to our revenue sources—are taken care of, and they don’t see any disruptions in their care.
Will planning for future revenue sources be a challenge because of changes at the federal level?
I would take that on as a challenge even if everything that you hear at the federal or state level was not happening. We are taking care of people’s health; we never want to leave the business model to chance and assume it is going to organically keep up with the times.
How do you plan to increase the agency’s transparency?
Central Health has been very transparent, even before my coming on board. If you look at the budget documents, the explanatory documents and all the learning tools posted online, I think there has been a lot of transparency in just making information available.
Where I think all organizations can do a better job is constantly refining explanations so that they are clear even if you are a person standing at the bus stop in Dove Springs, waiting to go to an appointment. I want to make sure people understand what we are, what we do, what our strengths are and what we plan to do in the future. I think that goes to a higher level of transparency. It’s not just being transparent for the sake of saying, ‘We put everything out there,’ but actually improving over time our explanations so people understand how we’re able to serve people and how we’re using those tax dollars.
What are the biggest goals you have for the next year?
We have a lot of things currently underway. I’m really excited about what could happen in Eastern Travis County as we bring in services and expand services. … I think the Brackenridge redevelopment also presents a lot of opportunities for us.
I want to go back to what I started when I first got here, which is community engagement. That is going to be an ongoing function of how I approach this job. I love data, I love big ideas and putting all these plans together, but I also love checking in with the community and hearing firsthand what people are experiencing and what their perception is. … People bear some extraordinary problems and burdens, and you can’t lose sight of that.
