Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Raymond Hino, CEO of Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center

Transcript

Raymond Hino, CEO of Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

0:02
This is where health care leadership comes together.
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Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
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hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
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speakers to Chicago, April 13 through the sixteenth.
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visit beckershospitalreview.com
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and click on the events tab in the
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upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
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in Chicago.
0:32
This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
0:34
podcast.
0:35
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Raymond
0:37
Hino, chief executive officer at Southern Coos Hospital
0:40
and Health Center. Raymond, it's a pleasure to
0:42
have you on the podcast today.
0:44
Hi. Good morning, Laura. Great to be here.
0:47
Absolutely. Well, thank you again for your time.
0:49
I'm excited to dig deeper into some of
0:51
the cool things that you've been doing in
0:53
the last year as well as get your
0:54
perspective on what's ahead. But before we do,
0:57
I'm curious. Can you, tell us a little
0:59
bit more about yourself and the hospital?
1:02
Yes.
1:03
Absolutely.
1:04
I am probably one of the the rare
1:07
ones, it seems, that has
1:10
never done anything but health care administration
1:14
in my entire career.
1:16
I am born and raised in Los Angeles,
1:20
California, Southern California,
1:23
and got my, my bachelor's degree in public
1:26
administration,
1:27
went on to get my master's degree in
1:30
health care administration,
1:31
and started
1:32
at the age of 24
1:34
working in health care administration, originally
1:37
working in the investor owned
1:41
for profit hospital sector.
1:43
But my career has taken me
1:46
from Southern California
1:48
to working in Texas in
1:50
in
1:52
the
1:53
small
1:54
rural
1:56
facilities.
1:57
I
1:59
really
2:00
found
2:01
a niche in in the small rural facilities.
2:04
I enjoy it. A lot of experience with
2:07
critical access hospitals and which is where I
2:09
find myself
2:10
at this time. I am currently the CEO
2:13
of the Southern Coos Hospital
2:15
in Bandon, Oregon as as you mentioned previously.
2:19
We are a 21 bed critical access hospital
2:23
on the Southern Oregon Coast.
2:25
Beautiful area,
2:26
beautiful beach,
2:28
stunning beach views and and world class golfing
2:31
right here in our backyard.
2:33
Our hospital,
2:35
is,
2:36
is doing well,
2:37
during these challenging
2:39
times, I'm proud to
2:42
say, and,
2:43
a lot of growth going on. So it's
2:45
exciting time and and, happy to share with
2:48
you, what we're doing at Southern Coos Hospital
2:51
today.
2:53
That's fantastic to hear. And, you know, like
2:55
you said, I mean, it's it's really such
2:57
a a great thing to have a passion
2:59
for the small rural and in critical access
3:01
hospitals.
3:02
Where do you think that comes from? What
3:03
do you love so much about that type
3:05
of space versus some of the bigger hospitals
3:07
and systems? Because I know some people, you
3:10
know, might,
3:11
find it more challenging. So I was curious
3:13
what is really attractive to you about the
3:15
small and critical act of hospitals.
3:17
Yeah. That's that's, that's a really interesting question,
3:20
Laura. I I found, you know, I'm not
3:23
from a rural area. I grew up in
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Los Angeles, California, so far from it. But,
3:28
when I started my career in healthcare administration,
3:31
I started off working
3:33
in, as I said, investor owned in urban
3:35
facilities,
3:37
but I was really,
3:39
I was really passionate about getting my first
3:43
hospital CEO position.
3:45
And when I got finally got my opportunity,
3:48
got my chance, my first hospital CEO position
3:51
was in a small rural hospital
3:54
in Sun Valley, Idaho,
3:56
actually, of all places. And I so I,
3:59
relocated my family from Southern California
4:03
Valley, Idaho.
4:04
Got used to
4:05
working in a small town, small community.
4:08
I, after that, I actually went back to
4:11
an urban facility, but, but I found over
4:14
my career
4:15
that I like working in the smaller communities,
4:19
and the smaller hospitals. Number one, it it
4:22
has such a personal
4:24
family
4:25
feel. I know everybody in our facility and
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I know their
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know their their their back stories and their
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family situation. I meet all of them
4:34
at new employee orientation.
4:36
I love the fact that I know everything.
4:38
I quite a bit about,
4:40
almost everybody that works for me,
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and also in the community as well. The
4:46
hospital in a small rural community is so
4:50
important.
4:51
Oftentimes
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the largest employer in the community many, many
4:56
times, and of course,
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so crucial
4:59
for the the health and and well-being of
5:03
the local community taking care of being the
5:06
only provider for emergency room
5:09
care and and obstetrics,
5:11
in many cases. And so the lifeblood of
5:14
the community, and I just thrive
5:16
and and love that
5:19
love that environment. And you're right. It it
5:21
is very challenging
5:24
because, in the smaller facilities,
5:27
we we say often we have to wear
5:29
many hats.
5:30
We don't have large staffs to delegate to.
5:34
We have to be able to do multiple
5:37
tasks and responsibilities, and I really thrive and
5:39
and enjoy that as well.
5:42
That's great to hear. I love it. Now
5:45
I I think when you look back, especially
5:46
on the last year or so, what was
5:48
the most important initiative that you led and
5:51
what did you do? What were the results?
5:53
Yeah, I can think of two,
5:56
Laura and,
5:58
the two major initiatives over the last year
6:00
that I'm particularly
6:02
proud of,
6:03
and have been so important for us. One
6:05
was the conversion of our electronic health record
6:09
system.
6:09
You know, we converted to the epic, electronic
6:12
health record system, which is huge, of course,
6:15
a huge undertaking
6:17
and huge for a small facility
6:20
such as ours, but really connects us
6:23
to other health care and and really the
6:25
world. But
6:26
the I think the one that I wanna
6:29
talk about talk to you about today is
6:31
another initiative
6:32
that we undertook, which was opening a a
6:35
retail pharmacy
6:37
in at our hospital and in our community.
6:40
And the reason that it's so important
6:42
is
6:43
listeners
6:44
may be able to identify
6:46
there's
6:47
so much change and upheaval
6:49
going on right now in the the pharmacy
6:52
industry.
6:53
And earlier this year, for example, Rite Aid,
6:57
national chain,
6:59
with almost
7:00
very little notice closed their doors.
7:03
Rite Aid was the only
7:05
the only retail pharmacy, only,
7:08
you know, major retail pharmacy in our small
7:11
town abandoned.
7:13
Fortunately,
7:15
about twelve months before
7:18
the Rite Aid closed,
7:19
you know, we had identified
7:21
a need for more retail pharmacy support in
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our community. People are complaining about long lines
7:28
at Rite Aid. There's only one other retail
7:30
pharmacy in our community. It was owned by
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a federally qualified health center.
7:36
So we felt like
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there was a need in our community for
7:40
more pharmacy
7:41
and
7:42
a, an opportunity
7:44
for a new revenue stream for our facility.
7:48
So we undertook
7:50
the project of creating a pharmacy
7:52
in June
7:54
2024,
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not knowing
7:57
that when we eventually actually opened our pharmacy
8:00
in June
8:01
2025,
8:02
we were gonna be replacing Rite Aid, which
8:05
closed their doors just thirty days before
8:08
we opened our pharmacy, and it was a
8:10
tremendous
8:11
undertaking. We are fortunate
8:13
that we had some internal resources,
8:16
a CFO
8:17
on our staff who had previous experience
8:20
opening a pharmacy.
8:22
We enlisted the support of
8:25
national,
8:26
companies.
8:27
Cardinal Health was a huge help to us.
8:30
We identified
8:31
space in our clinic. We had to go
8:32
through the whole
8:34
construction
8:35
project of constructing space for a pharmacy, hiring
8:38
a staff from scratch, new director pharmacy.
8:42
You know, we were we were participating in
8:45
three forty b previously in our hospital, but
8:48
never
8:49
on the outpatient side. So learning
8:51
three forty b on the outpatient retail side
8:54
and hiring a three forty b coordinator,
8:59
has been a tremendously
9:02
challenging, but also rewarding
9:04
On June
9:05
I think it was 06/17/2025,
9:09
we opened our retail pharmacy, and it's been
9:12
a huge success. Because of
9:15
the the closure
9:16
of Rite Aid, our
9:19
our statistics,
9:21
our utilization numbers
9:23
have been much higher than what we initially
9:26
anticipated. We thought we were gonna have a
9:28
gradual ramp up
9:30
over six to nine months, but we got
9:33
fairly busy pretty quickly, with the shortages
9:37
of pharmacy services
9:39
in our area.
9:40
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, really,
9:42
really important, as you mentioned, to have that
9:45
type of retail pharmacy and,
9:48
pharmaceutical opportunities for the community.
9:50
It seems like, you know, very fortuitous that
9:53
you have those plans in place and then
9:54
the team that was able to get things
9:56
executed and, built up for the hospital.
10:00
Now looking ahead, what are some of your
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big priorities and headwinds that you're focused on
10:04
today?
10:05
Yes. So looking ahead, looking to 2026,
10:10
of course,
10:12
the,
10:13
HR one and the
10:17
the health care transformation,
10:20
program is is certainly
10:22
weighing heavily on us.
10:24
We are
10:26
heavily impacted
10:27
by Medicare and Medicaid utilization
10:30
of our facility
10:32
in a a rural community. And and we
10:34
trend
10:35
higher on Medicare in our area where we're
10:38
we're kind of a retirement area
10:42
and with, you know, the resources,
10:45
and amenities that we provide in our area
10:47
very popular
10:49
for retirees. So, yeah, we're watching the the
10:52
changes at at the federal level
10:54
and how that's going to affect us.
10:57
We're obviously concerned about
11:00
protecting
11:01
our Medicaid utilization
11:03
to the extent that we can, and we're
11:06
we're encouraged
11:08
by the health
11:10
transformation
11:11
the rural health transformation
11:13
program and
11:14
the the dollars that
11:17
that have been granted to our state of
11:19
Oregon.
11:21
We're working closely with, the state of Oregon
11:24
on how those funds are going to be
11:26
utilized
11:28
in our facility and other rural facilities
11:31
around the state.
11:33
It's
11:34
and and so,
11:36
of course, I think it's so important at
11:38
this time because,
11:40
even before
11:42
HR one,
11:44
the
11:45
hot Oregon hospitals really have been struggling for
11:48
several years. Oregon hospital association put out a
11:51
report
11:52
earlier this year on hospitals on the brink
11:55
and reported out that over fifty percent of
11:59
Oregon hospitals have had negative margins,
12:03
for the last couple of years. And and
12:04
really only
12:05
25%
12:06
of Oregon hospitals are experiencing,
12:09
you know, relatively
12:10
healthy margins at this time.
12:13
So,
12:14
I think in answer to your question, there
12:16
was a lot of background detail, I guess.
12:19
Financial
12:21
financial
12:22
success,
12:23
sustainability
12:25
for our facility are going to be our
12:28
our number one challenge.
12:30
And the the way that we're addressing that
12:32
is through
12:35
is through looking at, the potential
12:38
for new services,
12:40
new service lines that make sense
12:42
for a small facility in our community. And
12:45
I mentioned already the the retail pharmacy, and
12:49
we believe that that's going to be an
12:51
important new revenue stream for our hospital in
12:55
2026.
12:56
We also,
12:57
in the past year, have revitalized
13:00
our surgery department
13:01
in our surgery
13:03
program. We we've recently
13:05
onboarded a a general surgeon.
13:07
The surgery department at our hospital
13:10
was closed during the pandemic, and it's taken
13:13
us several years
13:15
to to get the surgery department back up
13:17
and running. We when we
13:20
began the process of reopening a year ago,
13:22
we discovered that our sterile processing department
13:25
was out of date and and no longer
13:28
current with current codes. So we invested
13:32
about $800,000,
13:34
earlier this year in
13:36
renovating, remodeling our sterile processing department so we
13:39
can bring surgery back.
13:41
And, you know, our goal is to build
13:44
up our our surgery department this year. We're
13:47
also starting a new service that we're excited
13:50
about,
13:51
serving the Medicare
13:53
senior population
13:55
for psychiatric care, working,
13:58
partnering with a company called Senior Life Solutions.
14:01
We're going to be providing
14:03
group therapy
14:04
for for senior adults that may be struggling
14:08
with
14:09
some of some
14:10
psychiatric,
14:12
and emotional issues such as loneliness,
14:15
such as depression.
14:16
One of the things that we've noticed, that
14:18
we've discovered is that there's a lot of
14:20
seniors in our community that are caring for
14:23
loved ones and and spouses, and and that
14:26
can be an emotional drain. And so this
14:28
is a a new service that we think
14:30
is gonna be very,
14:32
important to provide,
14:35
support for caregivers and our seniors in our
14:38
community.
14:40
Got it. That sounds amazing. And, you know,
14:42
certainly being able to have those additional revenue
14:45
streams coming in and planning ahead,
14:47
it seems like it'll be a great foundation
14:49
to continue building on no matter what happens
14:52
in the coming year with some of the
14:53
legislation
14:54
and, different funding priorities.
14:57
Now,
14:58
absolutely, I know it's, you know, will be
15:01
helpful, but but not,
15:03
overall, like, a 100%,
15:05
solution or fix. And so when you look
15:06
into the next year, what do you think
15:08
the hardest thing that you'll have to do
15:10
will be?
15:12
Yes.
15:12
That that's a great question. And I think
15:15
that the hardest thing for us is going
15:17
to be to
15:19
to
15:20
manage that that road back to profitability,
15:25
you know, for our facility and and sustainability.
15:28
And we've we've been fortunate,
15:30
as a as a district hospital,
15:33
we we do receive tax support, which helps
15:36
us. And we've typically been
15:39
a,
15:40
breakeven
15:41
facility. Our our goal really is to to
15:44
get to be,
15:45
a sustainable
15:46
and and profitable facility, and and that
15:50
is is a challenge for us. But, you
15:52
know, we believe that
15:55
with,
15:56
you know, with the new programs that we're
15:58
creating and and being very careful,
16:00
and and also, you know, looking at,
16:04
you know, where we can be more efficient,
16:07
in the coming years.
16:09
And we've got some opportunities,
16:12
up the road as well for that. But
16:14
I think the the answer to your question
16:16
is
16:17
the the hardest thing that we're gonna be
16:19
able to do is is to move the
16:20
needle as far as getting over the hump
16:23
from basically a,
16:25
a break even,
16:27
over to a,
16:30
you know, a a profitable sustainable facility that
16:33
is going to, you know, be here to
16:35
serve this community for the next fifty years.
16:40
That makes a lot of sense. And, you
16:41
know, great to understand a little bit more
16:43
on how,
16:44
you're thinking about that sustainability and profitability.
16:48
I know you've outlined some of the different
16:50
tactics in ways that you're, you know, have
16:53
really been transformative in the last year to
16:55
support that vision of profitability.
16:57
Is there anything else that you're doing, whether
16:59
it's with your teams or kind of the
17:01
organizational strategy that,
17:03
will will
17:05
lead to this type of,
17:07
profitability and financial success?
17:09
Yes. There is. And I'm excited to to
17:11
talk about it.
17:13
In partnering with the state of Oregon and
17:16
the rural health transformation
17:18
program,
17:19
one of the things that that we're very
17:22
excited about is creating
17:24
a clinically
17:25
integrated network
17:27
amongst
17:29
the the rural
17:30
independent
17:32
hospitals in our state of Oregon.
17:35
There are very,
17:37
many several, I'll say,
17:39
successful clinically integrated networks,
17:42
in in many states that are largely rural.
17:44
North Dakota has a very successful one, Colorado,
17:49
other states as well, Montana, I'm aware of.
17:53
So we have we're working with our state
17:58
to to obtain funding through the rural health
18:01
transformation fund to create a clinically integrated network.
18:05
We have we've identified
18:07
13
18:09
rural independent
18:11
hospitals. That is hospitals, they're not part of
18:13
large systems.
18:15
And many of these, 13 hospitals are critical
18:18
access hospitals, but not all.
18:21
There are some PPS hospitals that fall into
18:23
that category, not part of a a system
18:26
serving a rural area.
18:28
And
18:29
and so we're we're starting to think about
18:31
how can we
18:33
band together,
18:35
using the the the power of
18:40
of,
18:42
larger numbers,
18:44
for
18:45
negotiation
18:46
of payer contracting is is one of the
18:49
the major opportunities.
18:51
Value based
18:52
care, another opportunity that we're looking at, working
18:56
with,
18:57
a group of hospitals and and then,
19:00
some efficiencies,
19:01
possibility
19:02
for
19:03
shared services
19:05
among the hospitals, group purchasing
19:07
opportunities.
19:08
I'm very, very excited,
19:11
to
19:12
to create
19:13
our Oregon
19:15
clinically integrated network this year. I believe we're
19:17
going to do it with, the support,
19:20
of the federal government and the state of
19:22
Oregon.
19:23
We have,
19:24
several very excited
19:26
and motivated
19:27
hospitals,
19:29
that are excited about partnering together, and and
19:32
we believe that,
19:34
through, this partnership,
19:37
that we're gonna be able to create some
19:39
new efficiencies and create some new,
19:43
more beneficial
19:45
payer contracting for a facility, which which would
19:47
be so important
19:49
for a facility. That's that's, I think, the
19:52
one of the the most exciting opportunities
19:56
that that I'm looking forward to in the
19:59
upcoming new year.
20:01
Wow. That's amazing. What a huge feat, but
20:04
a necessary and important aspect of growth and
20:07
development and, very, very exciting as you said.
20:10
Yes. We're you know what?
20:13
I think we're in a good place. I
20:14
mean, it's it's challenging times,
20:16
but, you know, we're not we're not thinking
20:18
of it in in terms of,
20:22
of devastation
20:23
and and,
20:25
we're we're thinking in terms of, you know,
20:27
where can we grow, where can we build,
20:29
where can we,
20:30
create,
20:31
new new systems,
20:33
that are gonna
20:34
benefit our community and and support our facility.
20:37
I guess one last thing that I'll I'll
20:39
add and throw out there. We we've also
20:42
started planning for
20:44
expansion of facilities in the future.
20:47
We we received
20:49
a a grant from the
20:52
the the largest employer in our area, which
20:54
happens to be a nationally renowned
20:57
golf course, the Abandoned Dunes Golf Resort, right
21:00
in our backyard.
21:01
They have a charitable foundation and they're very,
21:04
very supportive
21:06
of nonprofits
21:08
and
21:09
critical infrastructure
21:11
in our community. And and they granted
21:14
our facility $171,000
21:16
last year
21:17
to to fund a master facility
21:20
plan so that we're now working with architects
21:23
in in planning for
21:26
expansion and and potentially replacement
21:29
of facilities
21:30
for the future. I like to tell people
21:32
that
21:33
last year in 2024,
21:36
we celebrated our twenty fifth year
21:38
of service in our current hospital facility,
21:41
which we outgrew
21:43
long ago, and now we're planning for the
21:45
next twenty five years.
21:47
So a lot of optimism
21:49
and excitement about what we're doing
21:52
and love the partnerships, which is so key.
21:55
Partnerships with local employers,
21:58
with local government,
22:00
and with other hospitals and health care providers.
22:03
I think that's the key for us.
22:06
Absolutely. I love it. Raymond, thank you so
22:08
much for joining us on the podcast today.
22:09
This has been such an inspiring conversation and
22:12
a great way to think about the coming
22:13
year. And, you know, I look forward to,
22:15
connecting with you at the annual meeting coming
22:18
up here in April. I know you'll be
22:19
speaking on some of the topics we talked
22:21
about today as well as just sharing your
22:23
perspective on how things are are going and
22:26
and, again, you know, being able to dig
22:28
a bit deeper into how you've been able
22:30
to build, all the things that you've done,
22:32
whether it's looking at the retail pharmacy.
22:34
I'm sure, you know, we'll get into some
22:36
of the clinically integrated network,
22:38
in other aspects of our conversation today as
22:40
well. So, thank you again for your time,
22:42
and I look forward to seeing you then.
22:44
Thank you, Laura. I'm looking forward to it
22:46
as well.
22:47
Happy holidays and happy New Year to you
22:49
and and the entire Becker's HealthCare organization.