Teri Fontenot is president and CEO of Women's Hospital in Baton Rouge, the largest birthing and neonatal intensive-care facility in Louisiana. Fontenot spearheaded the construction of a new 350-bed, $350 million facility that opened two years ago. Fontenot was the 2012 chair of the American Hospital Association board of trustees. She was named to Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2011 and 2012. Modern Healthcare Editor Merrill Goozner talked with her about accountable care organizations, the controversy over abortion access in her state and how a women's hospital can improve care for low-income women. This is an edited transcript.
Modern Healthcare: You took out a very large bond issue for building your new hospital, but your recent financial statements show your situation is improving somewhat. What have you been doing to improve the financial picture?
Teri Fontenot: We moved the hospital to a greenfield campus because we knew that we needed to expand, and we needed larger spaces for our ancillary services like pharmacy and imaging. We actually have fewer beds at our new campus. But we were able to more than double the size of our physician office building, and we have plans for expansion into other services that support women beyond obstetric.