New AMC CEO getting up to speed with Valley health care

Story by Chris Graham
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Mary Mannix is still getting her feet wet at AMC.
“I’m so excited about this opportunity. I was with my previous organization for nineteen and a half years, and really was ready for some diversity in my experience. I came from a different setting – a physician-group practice/hospital setting, a very integrated model. And this represents something a little bit different from that, but certainly something that I think my experience will complement,” said Mannix, the new CEO at Augusta Medical Center, who came to the Valley from a stint as president and chief operating officer at Robert Packer Hospital in Guthrie, Pa.

Mannix assumed the duties of her new job at AMC on Jan. 1. As she pointed out today in a press conference at the hospital that introduced her to the community, “I haven’t even had my first board meeting yet,” so it might be a bit early to expect her to relate her plans for changes down the road.
“That’s one of the things that I think the board and I will jointly work on – what is the scope of work, and what our vision is and what types of things we might want to build on and possibly change in the future. I think it’s really important at first to really respect the culture and everything that we’ve achieved thus far and get to know the people of the organization before coming up with an agenda for change, so to speak,” Mannix said.

“I would say that one of our highest priorities is our relationship with the medical staff and how we work together as a medical staff in the hospital and how we align and what that looks like today and what that will look like in the future,” Mannix said.

Mannix said her first goal will be just to build on the foundation of what AMC already has in place.

“The staff of this organization are so committed and so genuine and very well-credentialed. I think the quality of care that we offer this community is quite frankly world-class care. So to be able to build on that infrastructure is just a very great place to be,” Mannix said.

Chris Graham is the executive editor of The Augusta Free Press.