In the News

By John N. Kastanis

Challenges continue to intensify for hospitals across the country in the form of rising costs, lower reimbursements, and declining inpatient volumes. Temple University Hospital is not immune to these trends, and we continue to be challenged to meet our inpatient volume targets, resulting in a shortfall of revenue from patient care for Fiscal Year 2014, which ended June 30. Notwithstanding these challenges, I am pleased to report that we expect to end FY14 with a positive bottom line for Temple University Hospital – an achievement which points to important progress we are making in several areas.

"It is a great honor for Temple to continue to be recognized in this way," said John N. Kastanis, FACHE, President & CEO of Temple University Hospital. "This speaks volumes about the skill and expertise of the entire healthcare team at Temple and only serves to deepen our commitment to providing the highest quality clinical care and specialty programs to our patients."

John N. Kastanis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Temple University Hospital presented a cutting edge speech on Obama Care when he was honored at the Hermes International Gala. The event was held April 1st evening at the Concordville Inn, in Concordville, Pennsylvania.

John Kastanis, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer of Temple University Hospital, spoke to Health Administration and Business Administration students, faculty, and staff on Jan. 31. His presentation, “Healthcare Reform and Health Systems in the Current Era,” addressed pressing healthcare issues in the U.S., including the need to make the nation’s healthcare system more efficient, effective, and affordable, and the need for hospitals to focus on core strategies and patient-centered care, a concept he described as a patient-centered approach for healthcare delivery and continually finding ways to improve the experience of patients.

“Our current healthcare system is unsustainable, and there is an urgent need to redesign it,” Kastanis said.

Physicians and staff gathered at Northeastern Campus on October 21 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking $1.4 million in upgrades to the Endoscopy Suite and Pharmacy.

Additions to Endoscopy include two new patient bays, a new waiting room, and an improved instrument-cleaning and processing area. Patient amenities, such as new chairs, flooring, furniture, and TVs were also installed during the project. In Pharmacy, workers installed new regulatory compliant positive and negative pressure rooms for the preparation of chemotherapy agents.

On hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony were John Kastanis, President and CEO of Temple University Hospital (TUH), and Kathleen Barron, Executive Director of Episcopal and Northeastern campuses.

Temple University Hospital named John Kastanis, its interim chief executive, to be president and CEO. Kastanis was appointed the hospital's interim CEO in December after Sandra Gomberg stepped down from the role.

John Kastanis, who currently serves as interim CEO of Quincy (Mass.) Medical Center (QMC), has led financial turnarounds at Southampton Hospital on Long Island and the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City. As interim CEO of Quincy, Mr. Kastanis has been tasked with capturing market share by recruiting specialists, rebuilding a primary care physician network, and continuing the hospital's journey toward financial stability. In this interview, he discusses why instability happens in the first place and how hospitals can achieve successful turnarounds.

John Kastanis, Quincy Medical Center’s interim CEO, says the working relationship with the Boston hospital would help restore the financially struggling Quincy hospital’s image. “It instills a measure of confidence back into Quincy Medical and brings better medical and surgical specialists into the Quincy community,” he says.

By Elliot J. Sussman, MD; John N. Kastanis, MBA; William Feigin, MBA; Harry M. Rosen, PhD

We asked whether surgical process and outcome differ for physicians in postgraduate training supervised by attending surgeons compared with attending surgeons alone. All appendectomies performed during a 2 year period in a 320 bed voluntary hospital where either the admitting diagnosis or the preoperative diagnosis suggested acute appendicitis were included in the study.