Augsburger: Patients remain primary focus at Lexington Medical Center

Tod Augsburger wants his tenure as chief executive officer of Lexington Medical Center to be about people, not just overseeing ambitious expansion plans.

His goal is to continue attracting top-notch talent from across the nation to become part of a team devoted to patient care.

New facilities help, but the sense of community among the hospital’s 6,000 employees often is the deciding factor in successful recruiting, the soon-to-be chief executive officer said.

“Once we get them in the door and they see our quality and culture, we close the deal quickly,” Augsburger said.

It’s an approach he helped hone during 16 years as chief operating officer, the hospital’s second-in-command.

He wants doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to concentrate on health care, leaving it up to other staff to deal with billing, insurance, operating standards and hospital management.

Those who know Augburger say he made a good partner for retiring hospital leader Mike Biediger.

Both are determined, but with contrasting styles.

“Tod is much more a bulldog personally and much more an analytic person,” health care consultant Lynn Bailey said.

Augsburger contrasts himself this way: Biediger “has the poker face – he’s very quiet.”

Aside from adding staff and facilities, the main challenge awaiting Ausburger is maneuvering the hospital through a maze of demands to add technology, amid more federal oversight of performance and pressure to hold costs down.

Adapting to those changes is “the wave of our business,” he said.

Augsburger, 52, came to Lexington Medical Center in late 1999 after 10 years as a hospital executive in Ohio. The Indiana native grew up in Michigan.

The hospital’s plans for improvement were appealing but it “needed help executing it,” he said.

Augsburger says he has fallen in love with the Midlands, and he is active in the community. He serves on the board overseeing the Columbia Museum of Art, is a member of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce and took part in a successful campaign for voter approval of a tax hike in 2008 for Lexington 1 school improvements.

His focus now is on developing strategies that continue pushing the hospital to the top as he becomes the fourth leader in its 44-year-history on Oct. 1.

Augsburger was a natural choice for the role because of his “track record of success, breadth of experience and understanding of our hospitals values,” said banker Jan Burt of Cayce, who chairs the board that oversees hospital operations.

The new hospital boss also is taking at least one lesson from his predecessor.

Augsburger already is engaging in Biediger’s tradition of walking around the hallways daily to get the pulse of employees, visitors and volunteers.

“That’s how we lead,” Augsburger said.