Grady Chooses New CEO to Manage Turnaround

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – Grady Health Systems' Board of Directors today chose a new Chief Executive Officer to turn around the financially troubled institution. Michael Young, a hospital administrator of 29 years, will take over in September.

Young comes from being CEO of Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, New York. When he took that position in 2005, that hospital was losing $30 million a year. Last year, it made a profit of $17 million.

Grady is on track to lose more than $40 million this year. Young says some of its problems are ones he had to solve in Erie County.

YOUNG: Grady's length of stay is too long. Their coding is bad, their billing is bad. Their waits in the ER are bad. These are all things that hospitals across the country are facing and can be addressed.

Young says a $200 million gift from the Woodruff Foundation gives Grady's turnaround a strong jumpstart:

YOUNG: Grady just needs to get to break even because it has the capital source to do the growth and development. So that's a huge advantage that Grady has that we didn't have the luxury of having here.

Young will earn $615,000 a year, under a 3-year contract.