HealthEast's chief financial officer set to retire

While his colleagues sort through the costs of implementing health care reforms, Bob Gill has only one goal in mind: spending more time on the golf course.

Gill's retirement as chief financial officer of HealthEast Care System is effective Monday. After a three-month transition period, he's moving to Palm Springs in his native California, and more specifically, headed to the greens.

His career in health care finances dates to the mid-1960s, the era of creation and implementation of Medicare. Before coming to HealthEast, Gill oversaw finances at a similar health system in southern California. He got his start as a public accountant at Ernst & Young in 1967.

But his very first job was as a 9-year-old newspaper delivery boy. "I guess I just figured that 56 years of working was enough," Gill, 65, said of his decision to retire. "Plus, my successor was ready. He was really ready."

When Gill announced his retirement in December, HealthEast named corporate controller Mike Nass as his successor.

"He's been my right hand, left hand, arm, everything since I came here," Gill said. "I just kept giving him more and more and more responsibility until it was like, he and I were virtually indistinguishable. And when people thought of the financial leadership at HealthEast, they thought of Bob and Mike."

Gill said one of his best accomplishments was keeping his entire financial staff in place during his 11-year tenure at HealthEast.

Members of his staff describe him as an animated storyteller and the kind of executive who remembers to ask about family members who have been ill or staffers who have had a medical procedure.

When Gill arrived at work in the morning, he climbed the stairs to his sixth-floor office and started his day with water rather than coffee.

When staff left at night, his last words to them were always, "travel safe," said his executive assistant, Yvonne Kleis.

Gill said overcoming limited cash reserves was one of the biggest challenges the system faced when he arrived in 1999. HealthEast only had enough to operate for about six and a half days, he said. The gold standard for cash on hand would be enough to operate for five months.

Cash flow today is about 12 times what it was when he arrived, Gill said, and if revenues were to halt, the hospitals could stay open for about 55 days.

Gill and the financial staff raised the money through a series of major transactions, such as the sale and re-leasing of the company's St. Paul Midway office building, which raised $37.5 million.

Gill lives in Woodbury but has spent most of his time in Minnesota as a Lake Elmo resident.

Nass said Gill has been a guiding hand for teaching him leadership and problem solving, and also for improving his golf game. He described Gill's leadership as sincere and at times humorous.

"If you were having lunch with him, you knew it would be at the St. Paul Grill; if you were having dinner with him, you knew it would be at the Lexington," said Nass, a 26-year employee of HealthEast.

Gill said he recognizes the challenges ahead for health care finance teams as costs continue to increase.

"There's no doubt about the fact that the cost and the cost changes and increases in the health care industry are not sustainable," he said. "Something needs to be done, there's no doubt about it."

But unpopular issues must be confronted, Gill said. He points to the cost of end-of-life care and defensive medical procedures that are done to avoid potential litigation.

The St. Paul-based organization owns St. John's, Bethesda and St. Joseph's hospitals, plus Woodwinds Health Campus in Woodbury and several medical clinics.

Gill's total compensation, including deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits, topped $550,000 in fiscal 2009, according to HealthEast tax documents.

Emma L. Carew • 651-735-9749