Dr. John Chessare Takes Helm as President of Caritas Norwood Hospital-September 17, 2005

Aims to Cut Surgery Delays Using Variability Management

Bringing an engineering-based management strategy that dramatically streamlined patient flow at Boston Medical Center, Dr. John Chessare has assumed leadership as the new president of the 293-bed Caritas Norwood Hospital, aiming to eliminate surgical delays and optimize hospital operations.

Applying the Management of Variability to Healthcare

Dr. Chessare, 53, of Hopkinton, arrived at Caritas Norwood in July as chief administrative officer before stepping into the presidency, succeeding interim president Richard Cunningham (COO of Caritas Christi Health Care), who filled in following the February departure of seven-year president Delia O’Connor.

A staunch proponent of the management of variability—an engineering concept widely utilized in manufacturing—Dr. Chessare aims to reduce the disruptive impact that unscheduled events, such as emergency traumas, impose on planned procedures like elective surgeries. At Boston Medical Center, where Dr. Chessare previously served as chief of medicine, he collaborated with Chief of Surgery Dr. James Becker and Chief of Anesthesia Dr. Keith Lewis to overhaul a high-volume surgical unit.

By analyzing historical records to predict daily emergency inflows, the Boston team separated emergency surgeries from scheduled elective procedures and staffed each stream independently. The results were staggering: between April 2003 and April 2004, elective cases bumped by emergencies totaled 771 delays or cancellations; following the structural changes, that figure plummeted to just seven cancellations between April 2004 and April 2005.

Implementation Strategy and Revenue Potential at Caritas Norwood

While acknowledging that Caritas Norwood faces a different scale of scheduling challenges compared to a major trauma center, Dr. Chessare believes the fundamental principles apply directly. “The goal is to treat as many patients as we can in an outstanding way,” Dr. Chessare stated.

Dr. Eugene Litvak, director of the program for the management of variability in health care delivery at Boston University, who has assisted multiple hospitals in adopting the system, emphasized that smoothing patient flow not only slashes wait times but increases hospital capacity without burning out staff. “Once everybody—and emphasize everybody—tastes the fruit of this, people don’t want to come back,” Litvak noted. “There is no way the issues of quality of care, nurse staffing, the overcrowding… can be resolved without addressing variability.”

Dr. Chessare noted that his immediate priority at Caritas Norwood is observing operations and gathering data, alongside building deep trust with medical and nursing staff. By improving case flow and cutting administrative bottlenecks, Dr. Chessare believes the hospital can simultaneously enhance patient experiences and boost operational revenues.

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