Meet Rick Canady of Houston Eye Associates

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Canady.

Rick, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have spent the last 44 years in the Healthcare field. I started off after graduating from college, with a double major in Business and Accounting, as a Medicare Auditor in Nashville, Tennessee. I audited the large chain organizations corporate offices like HCA and many others. I then got offered a position with a large corporation that owned hospitals, AMI/Tenet. I spent 10 years with them and my final position with them was VP/Finance Central Division. They were a fortune 500 company, my division had 54 hospitals and 20,000 employees. I then went to Baptist Healthcare System in Beaumont, TX as Executive VP of Administration and CFO. They were having financial challenges and needed help. I was there 8 years and they made money each year I was there. I decided it was time for me to start my own business and opened a healthcare facility that was a Partial Hospitalization Center for 8 years. While I was still operating my center, I got a call from a friend that asked if I would help in a consulting agreement they had. It was HEA and I said yes. This was in 1998. I continued the consulting, part time, while I took another consulting job in Arkansas for a 1,000 bed hospital system, St Vincent. Together it was full time. The Hospital System offered me full time job as their CFO and I took it for 2 years. HEA offered me a job as their CEO in 2001, I took the job.

It has now been 16.5 years later and HEA has changed dramatically. HEA was 17 doctors, 3 locations, and 125 employees. Now it 78 doctors, 29 locations, and 675 employees. HEA is now the largest Ophthalmology Practice in the nation. I am Past President of Gulf Coast MGMA. I serve on several other Boards. I graduated from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN and was named Alumni of the year 5 years ago. I also spent 3 years in the US Army, from 1967-1970.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, the path to success is filled with challenges that one must face. When you work in Healthcare, you are surrounded by some very smart people. The nurses are very well educated and the doctors all are extremely smart. The biggest issue is they were not trained in business but they want to participate in the decisions. So a good administrator has to get the business message out to the doctors so they understand the “whys” of a decision. Communication is so very important in any business. It is hard to take someone down a path they don’t know.

The financial responsibility and stability of all of healthcare entities both large and small are very challenging.

In Houston you are hearing of all the large Institutions laying off employees. I am afraid this is just the beginning. Hospitals are closing around the country in large numbers.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Houston Eye Associates – what should we know?
HEA has always been a very prestigious organization of the nation’s best Ophthalmologist, even when they were 17 doctors with 3 locations. Taking the job as CEO of this world-renowned organization was certainly an honor. Today we have grown to 29 locations and 58 Ophthalmologists and 20 Optometrists over the last 16 years.

With all these locations all over Houston area we are able to service the patients very conveniently and bring the very high level of Medical Center expertise to them.

HEA searches the nation for the best doctors and never settles for anything but the best.

The screening process is intense for the applicants. All must have good skills in their practice as well as strong surgical skills. We know that the public relies on HEA to provide the best doctors.

We face a very changing medical environment and we must be positioned to handle anything. We have added 500 jobs in the 16 years I have been here.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.houstoneyeassociates.com
• Phone: 713-668-6828
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoustonEye/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=houston%20eye%20associates&src=typd

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