Daniel Eichenberger, MD, interim president and CEO at Floyd Memorial Hospital & Health Services, has been nominated for the Hall Render Leadership in Healthcare Award.

A Quick Look

Eichenberger has been married over 30 years and has four children, along with seven grandchildren. He enjoys hunting, bass fishing, teaching and playing cards with friends.  He also enjoy movies and date nights with his wife.  They love spending time with their grandkids and encouraging their music and other activities. Eichenberger is also actively involved in Northside Christian Church, where he serves in various capacities of teaching and mentorship.

Eichenberger began working at Floyd Memorial in 1978 in Environmental Services.  He continued working as an orderly and an Emergency Room technician during high school and college to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from IUS.  He then graduated from the UofL School of Medicine, and completed my dual residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.  He received my Masters of Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Leadership Qualities

When asked what qualities he posessed, he responded, “I am primarily a faith-driven, servant leader.  I strive to display many qualities of successful leaders including character, commitment, competence, focus, discernment, initiative, passion, problem solving, responsibility, positive attitude and self-discipline.  I believe I am an honest and fair leader, and always responsive to my peers, the hospital staff, patients and families.  My time-management skills are exceptional and I perform well in a fast-paced environment.  I hold my team accountable for projects and actions and provide valuable feedback upon solicitation.  My organization skills are exceptional, displayed at the present time by juggling the CMO/CMIO, Interim CEO and physician duties on a daily basis.”

Making a Difference

“I started a primary care practice in an underserved part of Floyd County, where I was the managing partner for 20 plus years, and grew it to the largest primary care practice in the County.  At the hospital, I’ve served on all physician led committees including diabetic liaison, Chairman of Medicine, Chairman of Medical Care and Chief of Staff.  Prior to becoming the interim CEO, I was employed as the Chief Medical Officer/Chief Medical Information Officer.  I lead various teams I’ve developed including clinical IT, clinical documentation, extended utilization and RAC teams. I’ve taken the knowledge learned in private practice and administration and applied those experiences to how I address matters as a hospital administrator.  My understanding of these complex issues related to the delivery of healthcare and the ever-changing regulations allows me to remain successful in providing quality and efficient healthcare while providing a stable and successful hospital enterprise.”

Specific Results

“I am proud to say I provided leadership and influence during our extreme culture change from paper to electronic medical records and documentation.  I assisted with our successful achievement of Meaningful Use Stage 2 and working on Stage 3.  I implemented other software programs for clinical alerts by nursing, pharmacy, case managers, and physicians, saving thousands of dollars and improving the timely delivery of healthcare.  The successful clinical documentation and RAC programs has saved or recouped several hundreds of thousands of dollars for the organization while providing better and more complete documentation.  These past few years have been a very challenging time with extreme culture and process changes for nurses and physicians.  Many of my peers had never done reporting and documentation without paper and we achieved these transformational goals  using  a collaborative, hands-on approach by teaching and mentoring physicians and nurses as we solved ongoing problems and process issues in real-time.”

Paving the Way

When asked how he is helping future leaders, Eichenberger responded, “I believe in the importance of coaching and mentoring our next generation of leaders and physicians.  We already have programs in place providing rotations for students from nursing schools, Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant programs, and we are implementing Junior and Senior Medical Student rotations with Indiana University.  I believe influence is directly related to competence, character and connection.  My career has clearly demonstrated my competence as a physician and leader.  My character has provided me with respect, integrity and trust from my colleagues, and I’ve remained connected through my interpersonal relationships in all areas of the organization demonstrated by my affiliation with Floyd Memorial since 1978.”