Dear Search Committee Members:
As a proven physician executive, inspiring attorney advocate for health and well-being and a strategic entrepreneur with an established track record as a coalition builder and servant leader, I look forward to embarking on a journey of patient-centered care rooted in the spirit and joy of medicine by developing and mentoring cohesive, high-performing healthcare teams that will nurture a culture of health and engagement across the organization. My advancing leadership experiences in complex healthcare systems in rural communities has helped employers, their employees and our community achieve a healthy and productive workforce and patient population. I hope to have an interview opportunity to further discuss how we could reimagine what care and delivery could look like in Calcasieu Parish and the positive health and economic impact we could offer stakeholders of Lake Charles Memorial Health System as your next Chief Executive Officer.
As a physician executive, I have provided day-to-day leadership over the entire department and multiple service lines with the expectation to execute strategic growth and help scale services to positively impact the bottom line of a 4,500-employee community health system. I also had full P&L accountability while setting the overall strategy, growing revenue, ensuring physician and patient retention, delivering against the revenue and expense targets set in the annual plan/budget, and setting and successfully executing the strategic direction of the health system.
As former Chair of Specialty Medicine, I was responsible for 139 healthcare providers in various Medical Specialties ranging from Allergy, Cardiology, and Dermatology to Hospitalists and Oncologists. This role expanded my understanding as the current Medical Director for Maine’s Board of Licensure in Medicine, where I approach conflict resolution in a similar matter to facilitate and negotiate a win-win scenario for all parties in the interest of patient safety and quality of care. As an Administrative Director, I managed a $6M budget and supervised over 70 clinical and administrative staff. As regulatory liaison, I have collaborated with local municipalities, state government, employers and community members to develop contractual relationships to deliver onsite and near site healthcare throughout the State of Maine and with our New England neighbors.
I continually strive for excellence in service and clinical quality by maintaining my academic appointments at Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania and at the University of New England. I enjoy translating science and medicine for practical applications not only for promising students and medical trainees, but as a consultant for employers and professional associations in various sectors and industries across the nation. As an established executive leader and an expert in Preventive Medicine with specialty training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, I look forward to partnering with our LCMHS team to refine and advance strategic priorities through transparent communication and compelling vision with achievable goals for the future.
I enjoy engaging Medical Staff, Board of Directors and Leadership in various clinical, administrative and regulatory settings. I bring strategic experiences as President and founder of MedLaw LLC, former Vice President of Medical Staff, Chair of Medical Specialties, Regulatory Liaison and Medical Director for Workplace Health and Wellness, Employee Assistance Program, Employee Health Services, Fitness Centers, Teaching Kitchen and 8 on-site clinics throughout Maine. In these advancing leadership positions, I have developed other clinical and administrative leaders through quality improvement, financial and data analytics around evidence-based clinical effectiveness training and partnering with internal and external stakeholders to develop high reliability team building projects. I look forward to the opportunity to harmonize medical staff, nursing, financial, HR and safety teams towards strategic innovation of LCMHS through the eyes of the Board and community members of Calcasieu Parish.
As President of the New England College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, I chair the education committee to moderate and coordinate continuing education activities in collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health. To tie my interest in education and workforce development, I am a founding Board member of Kids’ Chance of Maine, a foundation offering educational scholarships for children of injured workers. All these experiences have a unifying theme of service to the community, education, mentorship and provides examples of my managerial, leadership, analytical and organizational skills. I hope plant my seeds in Calcasieu Parish and throughout Louisiana in a similar fashion.
Another experience I will bring with me to the CEO position is the power of communication, team building and fostering an environmental where employees would thrive and flourish. As an expert on Population Health Management, I have translated my clinical experience into business and policy that impacts benefit design, productivity, compensation, workers’ comp and health plan design as well as strategic well-being consultation and lecturing regularly at the annual regional HR Conference and Workers’ Comp Summit. My passion for improving health of the community and educational awareness program has helped me lead a community hospital to national recognition as a leader in employee well-being by receiving honorable mention recognition for the 2018 C Everett Koop National Health Awards presented by the Health Enhancement Research Organization. If helpful, I would like to win LCMHS a similar award as I hope to champion employee well-being by addressing burnout, resiliency and advocating to bring back the joy in medicine.
As a national and global leader in my professional association, I am a Board Member of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and a delegate to the American Medical Association (AMA). Regionally, I am a board member to the Maine Medical Association and the YPS Delegate from the State of Maine to the AMA. My experiences in organizational development at a global pharmaceutical company as well as background in employment, labor, privacy and environmental law in combination with physician executive business experiences, has prepared me for the challenges and opportunities at LCMHS. I hope to serve as your next Chief Executive Officer and look forward to hopefully having an opportunity to meet with you and share my passion and enthusiasm for this opportunity of a lifetime.
I hope you have enjoyed this website that I dedicated specifically to this LCMHS in hopes that I will have a live opportunity to meet you.
Sincerely,
Kenji Saito, MD, JD, FACOEM