Ms. Palicki joined Eastside in Nov. 2005, but she has held positions in healthcare administration since starting her career. She served as administrative director for Consolidated Health Services and was practice administrator for University Orthopaedic Physicians prior to coming to Eastside.
Since coming to Eastside, Ms. Palicki has worked to increase efficiency at the center. She has successfully implemented changes including moving from block to open scheduling, negotiating a new anesthesia contract, recruiting 32 new physicians and reducing variable overhead by 38 percent.
Ms. Palicki says the best aspect of her center is that surgeons and staff "refuse to give up." She says, "After 15 years, we have seen heavy competition with over 20 competing ASCs in the immediate area, and we have seen several ASCs fail because they don't think two to three years down the road. Eastside has been through management company change, board leadership change, administrative change, management change, payor constraints, regulatory changes and significant specialty shifts. We must constantly change to be able to remain competitive and to serve the community."
Part of this adaptability can be attributed to the center's culture. According to Ms. Palicki, Eastside is notorious for having a wonderful sense of humor, from the board to the staff. "We take patient care and sound financial decision-making seriously but still love to laugh and have fun in this stressful environment," she says.
Ms. Palicki enjoys the autonomy her role as administrator affords her, as well as the strong support she receives from her board, OhioHealth and Health Inventures. "I have the complete support and respect of my board of managers," she says. "We disagree, we argue and we respect opinions and perspectives. There are no hurt feelings, just sound business judgment."
To see the list of all 50 Administrators to Know, click here.