Caldas Named New Prez of PHC, Enjoying the Start of his Tenure
James Caldas will be the first to tell you he’s not too familiar with Putnam County.
A native of Long Island, Caldas, the new president of Putnam Hospital Center (PHC) has been acclimating to not just his new job at a new hospital, but working in a region he knew very little about before taking the job in late February.
Even though he’s only been in his new position for a little more than a month, Caldas quickly picked up how special a place Putnam is and how important the hospital is to the community.
“The scenic beauty is just spectacular,” he said in an interview. “And Putnam Hospital Center is a jewel of a hospital.”
Health Quest, which is the Hudson Valley’s largest integrated family of hospitals and healthcare providers announced its appointment of Caldas on Feb. 24, choosing a candidate with more than 25 years as a healthcare executive. Health Quest CEO Luke McGuinness, expressed Caldas’ many positive attributes he’ll bring to the largest employer in Putnam, noting “With Jim’s extensive experience and positive, proactive approach, he will be a great asset to the Health Quest System.”
Caldas quickly picked up on the outstanding culture at PHC, ranging from nurses, doctors, and other support staff, who all put patient care first.
“The commitment to create an excellent patient experience and family experience is really very inspiring,” he said.
Caldas served recently as the executive vice president of Catholic Health Services of Long Island, acting as the president and CEO of the Eastern Division, which includes three acute-care hospitals with a combined bed capacity of 1,000. He also served as member of the senior executive team and held the position of President and CEO of Washington Hospital Center, a 926-bed teaching hospital.
After graduating college in the 1970s with a business degree, Caldas wanted to have a profession that made a difference and worked to serve others. With the need at the time for more professional management in healthcare, Caldas found his “calling.”
Caldas became interested in working at PHC because he wanted to immerse himself in his true passion of running the day-to-day operations of a hospital, after spending four years strategic planning at Catholic Health Services of Long Island.
After being introduced to McGuinness, and discussing the future of Health Quest and specifically PHC, he knew he’d fill the role perfectly.
Caldas said healthcare over 25 years has certainly changed during that time, but many aspects have stayed the same. One of those constants is the privilege of different workers unified to best serve patients. One major change is the drive to always come up with new ideas to improve performance.
He said hospitals have moved from a provider centric model to a patient focused model, which he said is a very good thing. Caldas also pointed out there is more data of certain hospitals so patients are better educated about the care they’re receiving.
“And it’s humbling,” he said. “When I entered the field every hospital thought they were wonderful but there was no data available to either refute or prove that outlook. Today there’s a lot of performance data available.”
Caldas said PHC acts in a very responsive way for patients seeking care, noting he’s lucky to be the leader of an establishment with a solid foundation.
His focus will be on strategic growth, looking at new programs and services that can be developed. He also wants to work on cultivating relationships with medicals staffs like Somers Orthopedics, the Mount Kisco Medical Group, and Northern Medical Group.
And Caldas knows every worker at the hospital needs to feel appreciated. That starts at the top with Caldas.
“There is a very strong relationship between treating all of our people at Putnam Hospital Center well so that they in turn treat patients that come here for service extremely well,” Caldas said.
