Last month, David Wagner accepted the reins for the next two years as Chairman of SFHHA from outgoing Chair, Chantal LeConte, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital CEO, with much praise and admiration for her leadership. According to Wagner, “Her guidance, combined with the board’s participation, corralled internal and external expertise to address common challenges, drive action, contribute to the conversation and make a difference by forging new paths for our members.”
No stranger to health care, Wagner’s career began on the clinical side as a respiratory therapist. He earned his MBA from NOVA South Eastern and broadened his clinical knowledge with administrative responsibility for Cardio-pulmonary areas, EEG services and Sleep Labs. He then served in health care academics as Campus President for the American College of Health which provides curriculum and faculty for ancillary professionals including Respiratory Therapist, Certified Nurse Assistant and Ultrasound Technician careers. He spent the last 15 years in executive positions with CHA, Baptist Health, and Sunshine Health. Most recently he joined Kindred Palm Beach as CEO and in 2016 became South Florida Market CEO Kindred Healthcare.
What’s on tap for the tenure of this three-year SFHHA board member, you ask. A first order of business was to coin a new term … Winnergy … which summarizes the enthusiasm, resolution and grit with which he intends to pursue the Association’s agenda. Wagner’s definition is to weave a blend of focused energy and perseverance into all projects to reach and exceed goals that are measurably meaningful to members.
New and continuing trends such as – coverage and access, quality delivery, high value care, wellness and prevention, seamless delivery, virtual medicine, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, environmental awareness, consumerism, eldercare, and technological advances countered with cyberterrorism – all promise to be topics of interest and/or concern during the next two years. Wagner anticipates addressing ways to communicate new insights and solutions through mentoring programs, educational forums and/or committee work and partnerships.
Board and Membership
“Our diverse Board mirrors our membership and the communities we serve,” he explained, “and we aim to work within a balanced budget to insure our value proposition to members.”
SFHHA membership includes major health systems and educational institutions and targeted providers for eldercare, rehab, home health, hospice and specific disease-oriented care givers in addition to ambulatory facilities.
“From DME to home health, large acute care hospital systems to long term facilities, rehab and senior care; we serve an eclectic community of health care providers and consumers. Additionally, we resource our peripheral professionals who use special expertise to counsel and support health care entities, in outsourcing capacities, as consultants and in other professional dimensions advising on the business, facilities, legal, financial or regulatory side of healthcare practice,” Wagner said.
According to Wagner, such a diverse board which so closely represents the membership insures that the benefits flow both ways. Together they identify problems and work on creating solutions and then help others implement them without reinventing the wheel. Networking, educational forums and committee participation are invaluable to reaching the goals of improved health care in communities and often match new clients to professionals.
Communications and Recruitment
“Serving as a voice of industry information exchange, I’d like to see us dive deep into the next generation and master the art of influencer marketing communications and content in social media to reach, grow, maintain and maximize relationships with current and potential members through tools including LinkedIn, Facebook and Google, for a start,” he noted.
“I’ve grown up in this region’s health care industry and watched first-hand how this board has morphed to meet the needs of our diverse membership while attracting an even broader audience. I want to help drive that competency to the next generation. Mentoring and growing new leaders via coaching can add an enormous amount of value to both SFHHA and its’ members touching every facet of work, behavior and leadership. Staying current and flexible will help achieve explicit goals and develop individuals and ultimately our organization,” he concluded.
Current consensus is that social media marketing allows one to directly engage, build a presence and ultimately connect with customers, members and community. For example, with the right contributors, blog content can become a dynamic extension of organizational values and a powerful recruitment tool.
To that end Wagner suggests, “Let’s face it, our membership of clinical professionals, hospital executives and managers, insurance, legal and accounting experts, home care and nursing home administrators, physicians and nurses, university and allied health school faculty and students, and specialized service and product providers, certainly qualifies as expert contributors to share relevant and credible knowledge.”
Community Engagement and Advocacy
In addition to his devotion to membership, Wagner, as a native of the region, has a passion for the community. “This organization, by its very broad nature, has the opportunity to continue to be a participative community partner,” he said.
National headlines about social tragedies like mass shootings, the opioid crisis or terrorism often lead back to mental health problems as a contributing factor and can impact the industry and community. Other social issues influencing health include medical marijuana usage, the #metoo movement, poverty, immigration, aging, natural disaster preparation, and the green movement to name a few.
“As community health advocates we will rally our resources to appropriately prepare, prevent, or treat the causes of social ills in order to keep our communities and patients who live here safe and provide a lifeline for improved health,” he responded.
“We will continue, as stewards of community health and welfare, to collaborate with state and regional health care associations and represent our stakeholders’ strategic interests. We remain forward-thinking to positively influence and give back quality and value in a continuum for patients, professionals and ultimately the communities we serve,” Wagner explained.
Having outlined a full and expanding agenda, Wagner shared that his awe of SFHHA staff and membership accomplishments inspires him to lead regional efforts which will further improve health care delivery with an eye on quality, affordability and innovation.
