We Can't Blame OSF's Keith Steffen for Everything (Revised)--October 2014

Keith Steffen, OSF-SFMC’s CEO, is stepping down. An announcement by OSF regarding his replacement as CEO of the largest medical center in Illinois south of Chicago should occur soon.

In my opinion the last couple of decades at OSF have been discouraging. In January I posted here on dangerous corporate medicine in Peoria.

But I think it is important for us to remember a few things. Keith did not make many important independent decisions during his employment at OSF. Many bad decisions were made for him from OSF Corporate and Keith was required to implement the policies. I think Keith got used quite a bit by his handlers who hid in the background.

For example, when the Psychiatric Unit was closed at OSF, Keith did not make this decision unilaterally. He was told to close the unit by his bosses.

And under Keith’s watch Haitian Hearts patients were refused further heart surgery at OSF-SFMC. Sister Judith Ann, Chairperson of OSF HealthCare, had assured me multiple times that OSF-SFMC would never refuse a Haitian child. But they did as the Sisters and Bishop Jenky looked the other way while OSF’s Haitian Hearts patients remained in Haiti. So we can’t blame Keith totally for this negligence.

The administrative turmoil at OSF-Children’s Hospital of Illinois is very disturbing right now. The new 290 million dollar Children’s Hospital facility with its rooftop garden is nice but the fact that pediatric specialists continue to leave Peoria is not so nice for the people of central Illinois.

The ambulance monopoly in Peoria is not all Keith’s fault either. Keith may have attended Peoria City Council meetings supporting Advanced Medical Transport as being the sole provider of Advanced Life Support and transport in Peoria, but I am sure he was strongly encouraged to attend these Council meetings.

When I talked to Keith in his office about OSF’s Emergency Department’s dangerous boarding problem, he told me that “whenever there is a malignancy you need to cut it out before it spreads”. He was referring to me. Keith’s threats and numerous other inappropriate statements WERE his fault and NOT the fault of Corporate. (Douglass Marshall, OSF’s attorney, would attend some of these meetings and counsel Keith and caution him about what he was saying to me.)

Who will Keith’s replacement be at OSF-SFMC? Remember that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was overthrown after he was found in a little rathole, tried in an Iraqi court, and went cursing to the gallows. Iraq’s next president proved to be divisive and Iraq is having significant problems today even with Saddam long buried. In other words, just getting rid of a dysfunctional leader does not insure improvement in a country or a medical center.

The OSF Corporate culture has to change. The good of the patient has to be put back in the center of the founding Sisters philosophy. Until that happens it doesn’t make much difference who is named as the new CEO at OSF-SFMC.

If Corporate fails us again, we can’t blame Keith for that.

John A. Carroll, MD
www.haitianhearts.org