Wayne Hospital

When Wayne Hospital went looking for an experienced person for the job of Vice President of Financial Services, the administrative team wanted someone who could hit the floor running at health care speed.

They found a guy who accomplished that and more.

Dennis Lockard is now in place as the VP of Finance and he brings a wealth of experience with him.

“I have more than 25 years of experience in hospitals, including running physician groups,” he said. “I also have spent more than eight years in the consulting world helping hospitals deal with the many challenges that the health care field experiences.”

What drew him away from Indianapolis and to Greenville, Ohio?

“We (Wayne Hospital) are a very interesting business model,” he said. “We’re a small rural hospital that isn’t owned by a bigger hospital group. We’ve got some very exciting things happening with our new building project that is on-time and on-budget. By all accounts that new building will be as good as anything in the region. You need that type of a selling point to attract physicians who can enhance what Wayne Hospital has to offer.”

Current economic conditions do, however, present a challenge for Lockard and the Hospital.

“The community hospital business has, for years, been a business that is break-even,” he said. “Wayne Hospital is no exception, having basically broken even or had small losses on operations for the past 10 years or so. The Hospital does have some money in the bank and that has helped keep things smooth, but with the current state of the economy, the Hospital’s has much less than it had 12 months ago,” he said. “That means we are looking at cost-containment and that typically doesn’t come without some pain,” he said.

“Most businesses are either labor intensive or capital intensive,” Lockard said. “Hospitals are both. Half of our operating expenses are labor costs. We have highly-trained people who command a good salary for what they do. We also have very expensive equipment that we need to keep up-to-date. That puts a strain on a business and when reimbursements drop, that compounds those issues.”

The investment Wayne Hospital made in a construction project will help the Hospital in the long run, according to Lockard.

“We have a 60-year-old building that has needed an upgrade for years,” he said. “We’re building a first-class facility and we have a group of very dedicated health care professionals on staff. We have top-notch programs that can only be enhanced because of the new building.”

Lockard said that hospitals everywhere are looking at ways to streamline expenses and Wayne Hospital is no different. Lockard chairs the Hospital’s Cost Reduction Committee and employees have been asked to suggest ways to reduce cost without hindering patient care and safety.

They’ve been pretty successful according to Lockard.

“Our employees have been great at making suggestions and we continue to ask them to think more creatively and outside-the-box to find ways to reduce cost,” he said. “There are a lot of costs that can’t be reduced because the equipment we purchase tends to be pretty high-ticket.”

“We have to be very careful how we’re spending money,” he added. “But I think if you ask anyone in Darke County right now, they’re being very careful how they spend money.”

“We’re looking for ways to increase our efficiencies with staffing, as well as reducing our costs of operation,” he said. Lockard has a master’s degree in health administration and a bachelor’s degree in business administration/finance. He and his wife, Angie, have a son, Michael, who is a junior at Indiana University.