A Unique “Value-Add”

Bane entered the program with a substantial amount of management experience in long-term care — first in his family-owned long-term skilled nursing care and short stay rehab business, BaneCare, and then with Genesis HealthCare, a long-term skilled nursing care provider employing nearly 80,000 people across 28 states. Following a progression of increasing responsibilities at Genesis, Bane led the turnaround of the one of the company’s worst performing skilled nursing facilities in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and had made it a top performer both clinically and financially when he was hired away by Steward Healthcare, a for-profit chain of New England hospitals owned by the private equity firm, Cerberus Capital. In his new position, Bane serves as Vice President of Operations at Steward’s flagship hospital, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Mass.

During his first year in the Dartmouth program, Bane worked on a group project whose members included a pulmonologist from the Boston area, a pediatric orthopedic oncologist from Delaware, a physician from Singapore, a state senator from Oklahoma (serving as a mentor), and the Vermont deputy commissioner for Medicaid Services. The collaborative experience turned out to play a key role in his hiring by Steward.

Though Bane came to Steward with significant management experience in long-term care, it was his experience at Dartmouth that allowed him to demonstrate a grasp of health care’s broader context — not only across hospital and medical departments, but in intersections with the insurance industry and public policy makers. In setting him apart from other candidates for the position, he recalls, “The Dartmouth piece was a unique value-add.”

He acknowledges that getting the job is one thing, but it’s quite another to succeed in it. “After six months,” he confesses, “I’m off to a great start.”