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Donald Pocock

New Position: Chief medical officer, Morton Plant Meese Health Care, Clearwater. Previous Position: Chief medical officer, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Charleston, S.C.

By Times Staff Writer
Published August 29, 2005

Donald Pocock's day is filled with meetings and administrative duties as chief medical officer for the Morton Plant Meese Health Care group of hospitals, and he's fine with that. In fact, after more than two decades as a practicing physician, Pocock said he decided "eight to nine years ago that I wanted to make this shift."

Since June, Pocock has made rounds of the four hospitals in the Morton Plant Meese system - Morton Plant, Clearwater; Meese Dunedin; Meese Countryside in Safety Harbor; and Morton Plant North Bay in New Port Richey - and met with physicians and staff on numerous occasions. "Basically, I'm the liaison between the medical staff and the administrative staff," he said.

He is also charged with "the quality of care that occurs inside the system. Because of that charge, my responsibilities include the credentialing of the staff." Pocock said he also is responsible for handling case management - how the hospitals meets the needs of its patients - and quality assurance. "I will be . . . making sure we benchmark ourselves against other providers and report to the federal government and other regulatory agencies on the issues they want to monitor."

Thus, with 1,200 to 1,300 physicians with privileges at the system's four hospitals, and about 6,000 other employees, there are a lot of meetings, he said, including a lot of one-on-one meetings with physicians.

The key to getting through so many meetings, he said, is to "try to take good notes (and) make sure you like coffee."

With so many administrative responsibilities, Pocock said he no longer has the time to do patient care. "If you want to be a physician, you have to do patient care full time," he said. Pocock has been in administration since 2001.

Though he was ready for a change, he said he misses working as a physician. "You can't be a doctor for 35 years of your life and not (miss) the activity you do with your patients," he said.

Like medicine, administrative duties have their challenges, he said. "I enjoy the problem-solving," he said. "I view a large part of my job as education. I'm continually trying to hear people out and hear their problems and look for a win-win situation."

Another responsibility for Pocock is overseeing the system's adoption of a multimillion-dollar electronic records system, part of a nationwide multibillion-dollar project. The electronic medical records project is a $150-million commitment for Morton Plant Meese, he said, and will take several years to fully implement.

"I will be the physician champion of that project for Meese," he said. When in operation, the EMR will allow hospitals staff, physicians, patients and other providers to access records. "The biggest asset is patient safety," he said.

A native of Ohio, Pocock grew up in Massillon, about 8 miles west of Canton. He earned a bachelor's degree in theater and chemistry in 1969 at the College of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio, and earned a medical degree in 1973 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Pocock did his internship and residency at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, then a fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He had a private practice from 1977 to 1980, then relocated to New Bern, N.C., where he established a private practice as an internist for 21 years. In 2001, he joined Roper St. Francis Healthcare in Charleston, S.C., as chief medical officer, and stayed until joining Morton Plant Meese Health Care.

Pocock admits to facing some adjustments coming to the Tampa Bay area from Charleston. "The cultures are very different," he said. "Charleston is much more of an island than a peninsula. It's a very closed community that's been there for some time."

But the biggest change, Pocock said, is the commute. He was about eight minutes from work in Charleston. In Tampa, his drive is more like 45 minutes, he said.

Pocock, 58, and his wife, Darby, have been married 35 years and have two adult children.As a classically trained pianist as well as a theater major in college, Pocock said he and his wife are looking forward to cultural options in the bay area.

[Last modified August 24, 2005, 20:41:02]