Carlos Migoya (Source: CBS4)
MIAMI (CBS4) – After a long, and sometimes contentious discussion, the Jackson Health System voted 9-5 in favor of longtime bank executive and former city manager Carlos Migoya to lead embattled Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Migoya was one of three final candidates who most impressed the President’s Search Committee of the Public Health Trust. The others were former hospital administrator and consultant Myles Lash and “Ram” Raju, the Chief Operating officer of New York City’s hospital system.
“This job would mean so much to me,” Migoya told the JMH Board before the vote. “I have the skill set to run the best hospital in this area. You have to be able to generate the revenue and the profits we need to fund health care.”
“At the end of the day, I think Mister Migoya is best qualified,” said JMH Board Member Martin Zilber. “He has the knowledge necessary to turn the hospital around and tap into the private equity markets if need be to help.”
“It comes down to money and the knowledge that Carlos Migoya has,” said JMH Board member Joseph Arriola. “He is also very good in the community and I am sure he will be good at raising money too.”
Migoya will replace President and CEO of Jackson, Dr. Eneida Roldan, who announced last fall that she would not seek an extension of her contract. She is resigning by the end of May.
Along with the title, Migoya will also get a hefty pay check. The committee said earlier this year it was willing to pay “up to $975-thousand” for a new hospital chief. Roldan was paid $665,000 per year to oversee the third largest public hospital system in the country.
Jackson’s annual budget is $1.5 billion and is still struggling to survive a financial crisis brought on by mismanagement and a struggling economy.
It’s the financial crisis that has some on Jackson’s governing board, the Public Health Trust, to recommend such a high salary. Jorge Arrizurieta said in early February that Jackson needed to offer the best salary possible in order to attract the type of talented individual it will take to turn the hospital around financially.
