David J. Baltzer, FACHE

David John Baltzer is an experienced health care executive whose mission in work life is to provide high quality patient care. Baltzer believes that quality patient care is the basis for a healthy population, patient and staff satisfaction, and institutional success.

David Baltzer is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. David and Joanne (Jody) Burke were married in 1971. The Baltzers have two children, Margaret and Joseph Baltzer, who are undergraduate students at the University of New Mexico. David Baltzer is the oldest of 5 children. Baltzer grew up in the parsonage next to the church where his father was the minister and his mother was the organist, choir director and Sunday school teacher. At an early age he accepted financial responsibility. As a young man Baltzer worked at the following non-health care jobs in St. Louis:

rack boy in the Grand & Victor pool hall at age 12
Clerk at McCracken's Drug store above the pool hall
St. Louis Post-Dispatch paperboy
Book room clerk at Roosevelt High School
Door-to-door salesman of Ecko pots & pans
Nick's Catering truck route runner
Tennis instructor for City of St. Louis Parks Department
Imo's Pizza delivery boy
Library file clerk at the University of Missouri

Baltzer began his health care career in 1968 at the age of 17 as a Hospital Attendant I at the St. Louis State Hospital. To get the job Baltzer rode a St. Lous city bus downtown to take the civil service test. His score was so high that he moved to the top of the hiring roster. The interview process included an extensive battery of intelligence and psychological tests. Baltzer worked as part of a specially funded Hospital Improvement Program to determine whether providing extra resources would show measurable benefits for chronically ill psychiatry patients. Psychotropic medications such as Thorazine and Mellaril had been only recently developed and the State of Missouri had begun deinstitutionalization. Baltzer received on-the-job training that included administering medications to 45 male patients on Unit I-3. Other duties included shaving and showering patients, feeding patients, and taking patients for outings and walks. During the 6 months that Baltzer worked full time at "State" making money for college, he absorbed the values of rank-and-file hospital staff who struggled to support their families on a monthly paycheck of $305. This understanding would later help Baltzer, as a health care executive, to foster excellent staff morale.

Baltzer returned to full time student life at the University of Missouri in St. Louis where he fell in love with Jody Burke. The Baltzers were married. David needed to earn money for college and remembered the hospital job he had enjoyed. He was hired as a Central Supply Technician at Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis. During this year and a half, Baltzer realized his lifelong interest in health care. It was an important career decision to move into the professional ranks of nursing.

Baltzer graduated with a diploma from the St. Louis Municipal School of Nursing in 1975. During his 3 student nursing years Baltzer worked part-time and summers at St. Louis City Hospital as a laboratory posting clerk, operating room scrub and circulating nurse, and recovery room nurse. He also worked one summer as a night shift admitting clerk at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Baltzer maintains an active Missouri registered nursing license.

The Baltzers lived in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland from 1976 to 1978 while Jody completed a diploma as a Montessori Directress with lifetime international certification. Baltzer worked as a student nurse at St. James' Hospital, Dublin and earned lifetime Irish general nursing registration. It was during this time that Baltzer decided on a career in health care administration. Baltzer had served two full terms on the board of trustees of a credit union and felt that his interest in finance would be coupled well with his clinical background.

Upon return to the United States, Baltzer concluded a bachelor's degree in business from Webster College while working as a psychiatric nurse for the St. Louis Veteran's Administration Medical Center (SLVAMC).

Baltzer was accepted into the Washington University School of Medicine Health Administration Program for the Fall of 1979 and graduated with a Masters Degree in Health Administration in May of 1981. During his two years in graduate school he worked as a research assistant in the medical school and performed a summer internship with the SLVAMC. Baltzer's administrative residency was with the Evangelical Hospital Association, now known as Advocate Health Care in Chicago.

From 1982-1985 Baltzer worked as administrative assistant for Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico. At Memorial, Baltzer was responsible for strategic planning, safety, and special projects including creating the region's first ambulatory surgery unit and implementing a corporate-wide productivity system.

In 1985 Baltzer began 10 years of service with Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother's (SSM) Health System in the United States. This began with 5 years at St. Mary's Regional Health Center in Roswell, NM from 1985-1990 during which time he was promoted from assistant administrator to administrator and CEO. Following the merger of St. Mary's with Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, Baltzer was transferred within the SSM St. John Ministry Corporation to St. John Medical Center, Tulsa, OK where he worked as Vice President for Patient Care (CNO) for almost 5 years until the fall of 1994. For St. John Baltzer initiated kidney dialysis services, opened a geriatric psychiatric unit, and created an angioplasty recovery unit while implementing many divisional operating efficiencies.

In 1994 Baltzer was recruited to become president and CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (RMCHCS)in Gallup, NM where he served until 2005. During this time RMCHCS became recognized as a high quality provider of comprehensive health care services. RMCHCS developed an integrated delivery system that grew from 9 employed physicians to 55 employed physicians in 3 multi-specialty clinics. RMCHCS joined the VHA. When in 2003 the malpractice crisis in the United States forced RMCHCS's carrier, St. Paul Insurance to stop insuring hospitals, RMCHCS became a charter member of a VHA Mountain States regional consortium that owns a self-insured onshore recriprocal captive with headquarters in Vermont for hospital and physician malpractice claims. RMCHCS has very low loss experience for malpractice claims.

From 1996-2003 Baltzer served as President of VIP Select. VIP Select was RMCHCS's Managed Care Organization. An HMO was formed that accepted full capitation for hospital and physicians for 10,000 covered lives under New Mexico's Salud Medicaid Program. RMCHCS also served as the hub for a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) with 4 neighboring hospitals in a 60 mile radius. VIP Select contracted directly with McKinley County's two largest self-insured employers, Giant Industries and the Pittsburgh & Midway Mining Company.

Following is a list of some of the capital improvement projects completed during Baltzer's 11 years at RMCHCS:

The first major construction project in more than 20 years was the building of a 4 story new addition to the main hospital that houses the Intensive Care Unit, Laboratory, Inpatient Dialysis, and Emergency Department
remodel of Medical-Surgical-Pediatrics Unit with addition of 11 beds
remodel of Diagnostic Imaging department with replacement of all equipment including new interventional radiology suite, MRI, nuclear medicine gamma camera, ultrasound, Breast Center, 2 Radiography and Fluoroscopy rooms, and installing rural New Mexico's first 64-slice CT scanner installed in January 2005
converted to enterprise-wide Meditech computer system
expanded Zuni dialysis center from 11 stations to 38 stations in several phases. This center has been rated #1 for patient outcomes in the U.S.
constructed new 10 station outpatient dialysis center in Crownpoint, NM
started the region's first sleep lab
developed a comprehensive campus plan by purchasing more than 25 acres of land on multiple sites, acquiring 18,000 square foot medical office building, acquiring several adjacent houses, and doubling the number of parking spaces while improving traffic flow
built rural New Mexico's first rooftop helipad

A major part of capital funding came from the RMCHCS subsidiary Western Health Foundation (WHF). In 1998 the WHF completed its first capital campaign that raised $2,350,000. The WHF raised a total of more than $7M during Baltzer's presidency.

RMCHCS provides clinical experience for medical students from the University of New Mexico and the University of Pennslylvania and nursing students from the University of New Mexico-Gallup among others.

Following is a list of six national acknowledgements received by RMCHCS during the time that David Baltzer served as president:

Modern Healthcare Top 100 Integrated Health Networks 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010
Hospitals and Health Networks 100 Most Wired 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
AHA Circle of Life Citation of Honor for Hospice 2002
Trustee of the Year for Arlene High, Chairman 2003
AHA Hospital Award for Volunteer Excellence (HAVE) 2005
#1 in U.S. for Zuni Dialysis Unit patient outcomes http://www.rmch.org/

In the 11 years that Baltzer served as CEO of RMCHCS, Baltzer witnessed the poverty of Native Americans and Hispanics in the region. He served on the Blue Ribbon Task Force that recommended to the Navajo Nation Tribal Council privatization of Indian Health Service hospitals on the Navajo reservation. He was later appointed to serve as the only Anglo on the Navajo Health System Board of Directors. Baltzer also interacted with the Zuni Pueblo Council. Blazer learned first hand the enormous challenges of finding resources and operating a complex health system in a town bordering on sovereign nations within the United States. Recruitment was particularly difficult. Fortunately RMCHCS experienced favorable retention with employee turnover ranging between 12% and 18% annually during Baltzer's tenure.

Baltzer served as a member of the Gallup McKinley County Chamber of Commerce board of directors for 5 years and as chairman in 1999.

Baltzer served as a member of the Rotary Club of Gallup board of directors for 7 years and as President in 2002. http://www.rotary.org/

Baltzer served on the New Mexico Hospital Association (NMHA) board of directors for 8 years and served as chairman in 2000. He received NMHA's most prestigious award, named for its founder, the Frank Gabriel Award in 2001. http://www.nmhhsa.org/

Baltzer served the American Hospital Association on two national committees, the Committee on Volunteers (2000-2002) and the Committee on Governance (2002-2005). He served as AHA Region 8 Policy Board delegate (2004-2005). http://www.aha.org/

Baltzer is a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) since 1990. He has served on numerous ACHE committees and served as New Mexico Regent (2002-2003). Baltzer received the ACHE 1999 New Mexico Senior-Level Health Care Executive Award. http://www.ache.org/

Baltzer is author of articles on a variety of health care management related topics including governance, volunteerism, fund raising, telecommunications, and multi-institutional systems theory. David Baltzer can be found in http://www.zoominfo.com/ which displays some articles additional to those under the Publications tab.

Baltzer has an interest in approaches to healthy lifestyles that include nutrition, exercise and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). From the experience of living in Ireland, Baltzer developed an appreciation for tea. Baltzer has toured tea plantations and factories and picked tea in the Yunnan Province of China. Sports that Baltzer has enjoyed include: golf, bicycling, tennis, water polo, league bowling, league softball, volleyball, horsemanship, and hiking/camping/fishing.

Since 2005 Baltzer has conducted various health care related enterprises under the private label DJBaltzer. David and Jody Baltzer live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Please note: David Baltzer uses the following social networking web sites with connections under the Links tab above: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Plaxo, Twitter, and YouTube. The YouTube link offers a 24 second alternative to the video found at the top of this home page for people whose computers do not facilitate QuickTime. The YouTube link also offers a 2 minute 6 second video that presents some of David Baltzer's management style and achievements as a health care executive.