Sinai
.Ascending
Phillip Schaengold comes here
from Kansas City to lead
Detroit's Sinai Hospital into the
21st century.
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
4i■
hillip Schaengold, 43,
knew exactly what he
was getting into when
he left Kansas City to
become president and chief
executive officer of Sinai
*Hospital.
Sinai was in financial
trouble, had laid off about
200 of its employees and was
mentioned in every other
hospital merger rumor in
the Detroit metropolitan
q area.
Why leave a comfortable
and successful position as
CEO of Menorah Hospital in
Kansas City?
"It was a risk," said Mr.
Schaengold. "But, my career
is planned. When we looked
i ripit at the Sinai opportunity, we
thought the risk was war-
ranted."
The "we" refers to Mr.
Schaengold and his wife,
, Melanie, a manager in a
pharmaceuticals firm.
"The rewards of taking an
institution like Sinai and
returning it to a successful
performance level was worth
it and that included over-
coming some of the recent
negative history of the
hospital. I had no intentions
of coming to Sinai to preside
'over its demise."
Mr. Schaengold talks
about a plan, a structure for
Sinai. He said that Sinai will
most assuredly have to
become part of a hospital
system or managed care
System to survive for the
turn of the century.
But plans and structure
are what this man's career,
indeed his life, have been
about.
Phillip "Sol" Schaengold
`pwas born in France. His
parents were Polish refugees
who had escaped their coun-
.41 try just after the German in-
vasion during World War II.
Mr. Schaengold's parents
worked in a labor camp in
ussia and were able to sur-
vive the war. They
emigrated first to France
and then to Israel, where
p
they lived until 1961 before
coming to Cincinnati.
"I was the only family
member who had any Eng-
lish knowledge," he said. "I
was, in effect, the family
translator."
Being new to this country
was not an issue as a teen-
ager growing up in the Mid-
west, especially since the
high school he attended was
70 percent Jewish. His dad
held a number of jobs, in-
cluding owning a grocery
store.
It was at a fairly young age
that Mr. Schaengold knew
that he wanted to work in
hospitals as an administrator.
He did what many wish they
had done in their formative
years; he researched and then
planned his career.
First, he wanted a medical
discipline, so he became a
pharmacist, receiving his
degree from the University
of Cincinnati. Later, he
would become director of
pharmacy for Cincinnati's
Providence Hospital. Next
came a master's in business
administration also from the
University of Cincinnati.
The third corner of his foun-
dation came with a law
degree from the University
of Northern Kentucky. What
brought it all together was
putting his education to
practical use.
In 1980, he worked for
McDonnel-Douglas, design-
ing a hospital informations
system. This gave him in-
sight into the business end of
hospital& It was that insight
he drew on when he became
assistant administrator in
1983 of Menorah Medical
Center in Kansas Center. By
late 1985, he had become the
third CEO the hospital had
hired in 21/2 years.
"I achieved what it was
important to achieve," he
said. "There was a similar
challenge to Detroit in that
the Jewish community was
too far away to use the
hospital. Menorah was,
however, an excellent facili-
ty. We were competitive and
heavily into managed care."
Phillip Schaengold: Guiding Sinai.
Mr. Schaengold points to
two key achievements at
Menorah: One was a 10-year
working agreement between
the hospital and health
maintenance organization,
Kaiser Permanente. The
other was the planning of a
comprehensive- ambulatory
campus, a $30 million pro-
ject.
What makes Mr.
Schaengold unique in his
position is his experience.
He knows what it's like to be
an employee of a hospital be-
cause he's been employee,
department head, a senior
manager and a CEO.
"I was not thinking of
Detroit as a next stop for my
career," he said. "I knew,
though, that Menorah was
not going to be the last stop.
I wanted something larger
and more complex."
A strikingly handsome
man with a confident hand-
shake and friendly de-
meanor, Mr. Schaengold ra-
diates a sense of purpose. A
visitor leaves feeling Mr.
Schaengold knows what he's
doing.
He said that in medical
circles, Sinai of Detroit has a
reputation as an outstan-
ding teaching hospital. Also,
it is known nationally in
areas such as obstetrics and
cardiology. But, Mr.
Schaengold said, Jewish
hospitals often suffer from
an unfortunate paradox.
While they are well-
respected nationally, their
reputation may be challeng-
ed locally.
"I discovered that Sinai
did not have a good reputa-
tion among its own consti-
tuency," he said, "but in the
health care industry, it was
considered an outstanding
hospital. People here should
understand that this institu-
tion has a real opportunity
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