New hospital CEO vows patients 'will be well taken care of'

While introducing Sudbury Regional Hospital's new CEO, Dr. Denis-Richard Roy, to the media Nov. 3, hospital board chair Carol Hartman disclosed that he will be paid $350,000 per year.

The former CEO of the hospital, Vickie Kaminski, was criticized a few years ago when the public sector salary disclosure list revealed that she had received a large salary increase.

“Rather than wait for the annual disclosure next spring, as part of our wish to be transparent to our community, I will tell you that his (Roy's) salary will be set at $350,000 gross per year,” said Hartman.

“This salary is at the 50th percentile for hospital CEO compensation. In order for the board to be successful in recruiting a top candidate, we obviously needed to be respectful of these industry standards.”

Roy was CEO of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) from 2002 to 2008.

Over the past 20 years, Roy has held numerous leadership positions with McGill University Health Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal Thoracic Institute and the Centre hospitalier régional de l’Outaouais. He is currently consulting manager at CHUM.

One reporter brought up his past at CHUM, saying she'd found media reports indicating that it was as if Roy “had been pressured” to leave his post as CEO by the Quebec health minister.

Roy said “this is something I would prefer not to discuss. I would, however, refer you to other articles in that area. You will understand that one must not always trust the title of the articles.”

When questioned about why he didn't want to clarify the issue for the people of Sudbury, Roy said “I'm here to look to the future, and it will be a great future.”

Hartman said she would not comment about “the motives behind the minister of health's decision,” but that she wanted to point out that Roy remained a consulting manager with CHUM after he stepped down as CEO.

Roy, who will take over at the Sudbury hospital from interim CEO Bertha Paulse in January, shared his vision for the hospital at the press conference.

“We will work in the long term so that the patients are well taken care of — so well taken care of that they would not even think of going elsewhere,” he said.
Roy was chosen with the help of a professional head-hunting firm and a CEO selection committee made up of representatives from the medical community.

He said when a head hunter approached him about taking the job, the first thing he asked about was whether it was with an academic hospital.

Because the Sudbury Regional Hospital is new to the role as an academic hospital, Roy said he wants to ensure that it grows into this role, recruiting the medical professionals needed to give medical students the best of training.

He said he wants to sit down with the dean of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Dr. Roger Strasser, and discuss what the students need.