New board chairman Jim Cammack (right) is congratulated by Chief Medical Officer Scott Kennedy and outgoing president John Beitzel (left). Beitzel told those attending the meeting “I’ve been very pleased to work with this board. They do important work.” Sequim Gazette photo by Mark Couhig

Retired pharmacist takes the gavel

By MARK ST.J. COUHIG

Sequim Gazette

Jim Cammack is the new chairman of the board of commissioners of Olympic Medical Center.

Cammack, a retired pharmacist, was elected by unanimous vote of his fellow board members Wednesday, Jan. 5.

He was handed the gavel by his immediate predecessor, John Beitzel.

Cammack previously held the position of secretary of the board. Board members elected Dr. John Miles to succeed Cammack as secretary.

Cammack said one of the top priorities for his term will be the ensuring the three peninsula medical centers complete the process of establishing a partnership with a tertiary associate, a larger medical center that can provide some of the specialized procedures OMC, Forks Community Hospital and Jefferson Healthcare can’t provide.

Cammack noted the three peninsula health care centers already have agreed on the top three candidates to serve as a tertiary partner. “The next thing is to not let that die.”

Cammack said the current plan, which calls for establishing the tertiary partnership by April, is “probably a little aggressive. But meetings are under way.” He noted the agreement must be reached by the boards of all three medical centers, making number of people involved in the discussions perhaps a bit unwieldy.

“I’m going to propose we have representatives” to further research the alternatives, he said. “We can maybe trim it down to a committee.”

“Our CEO (Eric Lewis) gets a lot of credit for the work he has done.”

Cammack agreed the OMC budget will be tight in 2011 but said the board and staff will make it work. He said the new strategic plan calls for working for a 4 percent net on revenues. That’s important, he said, because this “bottom line” provides the source for capital purchases and maintaining OMC’s current equipment and operations.

In addition to his work on the board, Cammack is a volunteer with Statewide Health Benefits Advisors. In that role he not only lends a hand to those who need it but ensures his pharmacist skills and knowledge are kept up to date.