By Kristina Lopez
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Sheppard Pratt Health System’s newly appointed vice president and chief of operations wants to boost patient care and quality while offering more successful treatment plans.
“I’m a believer in the Lean methodology of continuous improvement, which means it’s important for leaders to connect with the people who are managing those core areas,” Gregory Gattman told The Baltimore Watchdog in a recent interview.
The COO explained, “This process is very inclusive and involves many different people. I want to involve staff members in decisions that I make that affect them and make it easy and safe to provide feedback. Our team has great ideas, we just need to engage them.”
Sheppard Pratt Health System, located in Towson, is the largest private, nonprofit provider of mental health, special education, substance use, developmental disability and social services in the country. Founded in 1853 as The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, it’s known to many as Sheppard Pratt. The care that is offered uses both hospital and community-based services.
Areas of research for the facility include mood disorders, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and autism – illnesses that afflict more than 650 million people worldwide. Officials said the goal is oriented around physical health problems and premature mortality in serious mental illnesses. Sheppard Pratt staff welcome walk-ins as well as scheduled appointments.
Officials said the Crisis Walk-In Clinic is specially designed for immediate psychiatric assessment of people seeking appropriate levels of psychiatric care.
“My primary focus in my role as COO is to optimize the patient experience for the inpatient and day hospitals,” said Gattman, adding, “to me, it’s about how effectively we get people the care they need, while also understanding what their experience is like to ensure we exceed their expectations, meet their care needs, and provide for any on-going treatment they require.”
Prior to his Nov. 5 appointment, Gattman was the president for clinical services at Palmetto Health Baptist in Columbia, South Carolina and served other executive positions in clinical operations. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, and his master’s in health service administration at The Ohio State University.
“I’m at a stage now where I am currently orienting myself to the various departments and functions that fall under me by meeting with leaders and team members,” said Gattman. “Through these meetings, I will work to identify and prioritize the areas that need support to ensure we have the best practices in place.”
With more than 30 years of experience in healthcare administration, Gattman has worked in many different locations serving various administrative positions throughout his career and is board certified in healthcare management. In the beginning of his career, Gattman held senior administrative positions in acute care and psychiatric hospitals in Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri.
“His demonstrated operational successes and deep knowledge regarding integrated, patient-centered care will help propel our program growth as we look to meet increasing mental health needs of our community,” said Harsh K. Trivedi, president and CEO.
Gattman said he wants to work with employees to better implement more successful treatment plans for program operations, clinical administrative services, and patient care and quality.
Gattman is currently an American College of Healthcare Executives Fellow as well as the board chair of Midlands Housing Authority’s operations committee. In addition, he served as chairman of the Committee on Behavioral Health Services within General Healthcare Systems for the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare and the South Carolina Hospital Association Behavioral Health Council.
Mark Taylor, a therapist at Centered Counseling Services in Towson, said there are many patients that are referred to practitioners and counseling centers for post-program treatment once they are released from Sheppard Pratt.
“There are many therapists and psychiatric nurse practitioners in the area, Centered Counseling Services being one of them,” said Taylor, adding, “though not all of the patients that come through our doors are referred to us from them, we have our fair share of patients that come from their programs there, looking to seek extra care after the services Sheppard Pratt provided them.”
He added that Sheppard Pratt has had a long-standing relationship with many local counseling services through neighboring communities. The nurses and doctors there work to help provide treatment for patients and help find someone to guide patients in their recovery once they are discharged from them