Phil Newbold, president and CEO, Memorial Hospital and Health System

Phil Newbold has been president and CEO of Memorial Hospital and Health System for 23 years. Under his guidance, Memorial has been named one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States, and within the top 5 percent in rankings of quality and safety. Newbold’s passion and desire for innovation earned him recognition in The Wall Street Journal as one of the most creative, entrepreneurial and innovative minds in the medical field. Newbold recently helped start the Pfeil Innovation Center to help spur entrepreneurial problem solving and creative ways to create corporate growth. He also co-authored a book on innovation titled, “Wake Up and Smell the Innovation.”

Phil D’Amico, director of business growth for The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County, recently chatted with Newbold about past accomplishments and what the future holds.

Phil Newbold, president and CEO of Memorial Hospital and Health System

Q: You have been a busy man over the course of your 23 years here. I’m sure it’s rewarding to see all the growth.

A: I think it’s interesting how the theme of this month’s e-newsletter is Tax Increment Financing (TIF), because probably not many people realize that Memorial Hospital is located in what is called the medical TIF. So many of our projects have been greatly supported by the utilization of TIF funds. Another little known fact is that Memorial Hospital does pay some property taxes on all the land it owns. We believe it is not only important for us to do so, but if we want to see this community grow, our tax dollars helps the redistribution of funds, and helps support other key infrastructure projects that will help this hospital and community grow. TIF, as it relates to the hospital and city, has helped job creation, property tax revenues, infrastructure improvements and physician growth. Our hospital area can be a talent recruitment tool.

Q: I have got to believe the medical TIF funds can help further growth.

A: Absolutely, and realize that Memorial Hospital is a gateway into the city’s downtown from the north. TIF dollars have helped support traffic flow by adding turning lanes and new road and parking structures that make it easier to get in and out of the hospital. So when you talk about infrastructure and road enhancements, TIF plays a key role. People probably don’t realize that Memorial gets 2,000-3,000 daily visitors that visit the campus. So when road projects or new paving projects happen, that helps the entire city and its traffic flow initiatives.

Q: So, I guess the next obvious question is where have you seen the most growth for the hospital?

A: That is a good question. You know, I think back, in my 23 years here, we have gone from 1,600 employees to 3,200 employees, we’ve taken many older single-use buildings around the hospital and turned them into newer multiple-use newer technology-based medical buildings, we’ve doubled the number of buildings and square footage. Also in that time, 100 Navarre Place was created, we have four new office buildings, and we are now up to having a $250 million impact on South Bend’s economy.

Q: Wow, so you’ve seen some minimal growth over the years (laughs). Where do you see the next big wave of growth?

A: With the growth of our area, there is a real need for a children’s hospital. We now have a pediatric surgeon on staff, and we need to continue to add and grow the tools necessary to look at that expansion in 2014.  We continue to grow our trauma center. We see over 1,200 trauma cases each year, with 90 percent of the traumas being accidental and the other 10 percent are piercing traumas. I also see much growth occurring in our surgery centers. We have added millions of dollars worth of equipment in this area. We have a state-of-the art da Vinci robotic platform, which makes surgery recoveries go quicker. Remote surgeries can now be done with this equipment, which means the surgeon can be in a remote location and perform surgery on a patient in South Bend. The cancer center has also seen enormous growth, with a newer $4 million machine added.

Q: You have had great success in innovation. Why is this so important to you.

A: We feel the hospital has a great opportunity to teach the community about innovation. The health care industry has been used to dealing with R&D budgets for years and developing new, creative ways to offer safety, become an efficiency-driven organization, and help spur creativity, and innovative ways to deliver patient satisfaction and state-of-the-art health care. So setting up an environment like the Pfeil Innovation Center for the community to learn innovative ways to help spur entrepreneurial and “intra-preneurial” growth for the community is going to go a long way to creating jobs and new businesses for our region.

Q: We have talked about a lot of things here, great initiatives, great ideas for growth, and innovative and creative ways for our community to partner with health care. So how would you sum up our discussion?

A: I think if you are talking about TIF, people need to understand that in our (Memorial) case, TIF saves lives.

Q: I’m tired just thinking about all you have going on. You must have endless energy.

A: We have no choice. All of us are working tirelessly to make this community successful.