Thank you for this welcome!

By Liz Withers, MD, MBA, Good Samaritan Chief Medical Officer

Almost one month in! I’d like to thank everyone who’s stopped by my office to say hi, welcomed me into a meeting or shared with me your insight into working at this hospital and with this medical staff. Your warm reception and curiosity about my plans have reaffirmed my decision to accept this position.

I’d also like to thank everyone who attended the Senior Team’s first Hot Topics last week! Most of our discussion was about the staffing situation in Interventional Radiology. Hot Topics was created precisely for issues like this one. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to answer your questions, help dispel myths and hear your concerns, face to face.

I will always strive to be present and available to you, and I hope you continue to seek me out with your concerns. Together, we can trash false rumors and pursue real and needed opportunities for collaboration and improvement.

Open dialogue will be essential in the months to come. Continued clinical integration with Intermountain Health and heightened financial pressures in our market and throughout the industry will require change.

Throughout this process, our roles might be different, but we share the same mission: to ensure our patients receive the safest, highest-quality care. My commitment is to listen to you sincerely and pursue whatever I can on your behalf while balancing your ideas and concerns with what is possible and safe for our patients.

It’s a tall order that requires faithful engagement from all of us. Considering what I’ve witnessed so far from so many of you – your openness to different ideas and willingness to cross-collaborate on behalf of your patients – I’m optimistic, even excited, about what we can achieve together.

My office soon will be moved adjacent to the Physician Lounge. My door is always open, and I welcome the pop-in! I encourage you to attend the Hot Topics every month and I plan to create more opportunities to solicit your feedback and your suggestions for improving our care and culture.

I look forward to our work and to getting to know you better. Please reach out to me anytime, for any reason at elizabeth.withers@imail.org. Thank you for your trust and partnership, for your loyalty to Good Samaritan and this medical staff, and for your dedication to our patients.