CHESTERFIELD 鈥 Lynn Britton has led Mercy hospitals for 13 years, overseen expansive growth, steered the health system through the coronavirus pandemic 鈥 and now he鈥檚 on the cusp of retirement.
Britton steps down in April to become executive board chair. Steve Mackin, president of Mercy Hospital St. 亚洲无码, takes over an organization vastly different than it was a decade ago, and one facing a bevy of challenges, from labor shortages to changing consumer demands.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to continue to deliver the services in the same way, in the same format that we have for the last 20, 30 years, people are going to choose someone else,鈥 Britton said.
Britton, originally from Texas, first started working for Mercy in 1992, in Oklahoma City, as supply chain director.
In 2000 Britton became vice president of Mercy鈥檚 supply chain operating division. In 2004 he became senior vice president, and in 2009 he was promoted to president and CEO of the health system.
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Britton鈥檚 tenure saw the growth of telehealth and the adoption of electronic medical records. He oversaw the unification of all of Mercy鈥檚 facilities under one name, in 2011, and the establishment of Mercy Clinic, the health system鈥檚 physician group.
Operating revenues at Mercy, a nonprofit Catholic health care system, have risen to $7.4 billion last fiscal year from $3.9 billion in 2009. It now has 45 hospitals in four states 鈥 including dozens in Missouri, and others scattered across Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas 鈥 up from 29 in 2010. And it runs five hospitals in the St. 亚洲无码 region, up from two when Britton took over.
In 2020, when COVID-19 hit Missouri, Mercy saw 60% of its revenue disappear in a month. It furloughed and laid off hundreds of workers, which Britton said was unavoidable.
鈥淭hose were difficult decisions鈥 You don鈥檛 sit by and just wait, you have to take action,鈥 Britton said. 鈥淵ou always look back and think of the human impact of it and wish that could have been avoided.鈥
In October the health system announced Britton鈥檚 plans to step down as CEO.
The succession plan has been 10 years in the making, Britton said. Eight years ago, the board decided the next CEO should be an internal candidate, and so they needed to build a bench of people who could step into the role.
Mackin, originally from Central Illinois, received his bachelor鈥檚 degree from Wabash College, a small, all-male school in Indiana. He received a Master鈥檚 in Business Administration from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.
He worked for 19 years at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a Florida-based health network that treats adult cancer patients, and lived in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Florida. He was hired by Mercy five years ago, as the senior vice president of business development for the health system鈥檚 cancer service line.
Mackin takes the helm as the industry begins to transform 鈥 and not just because of COVID-19.
Telehealth, urgent care, and outpatient surgery are all growing, as patients demand to access their care in different ways. Patients, today, want more options for how and where they get their medical care, and health providers have to adapt to meet those demands, Britton said.
鈥淭hose who can stay ahead of the curve and evolve themselves to meet the expectations of the modern-day consumer, patient, customer 鈥 whatever words you choose to call those we serve 鈥 you have to be flexible and be prepared to evolve and change,鈥 Britton said.
Mackin forecasts continued growth for Mercy. The health system is recruiting more specialists. Earlier this year, Mercy bought 22 Dierbergs Markets pharmacies. A month later, it broke ground on a new multispecialty center across from Mercy Hospital St. Louis
Mercy鈥檚 focus, he said, is to make care affordable and accessible for its patients.
鈥淭here鈥檚 health systems that may have been able to perform in the past,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut as those costs increase, and as the ability to increase rates and push that to the consumer no longer exist, particularly with price transparency, I think there鈥檚 going to be a real difference in health systems that perform versus those that don鈥檛.鈥