From the CEO

Once again, "Financial Challenges" tops the list of issues on the minds of hospital executives. This is certainly consistent with what I hear regularly from our customers. It reinforces our need to do everything we can to be a true partner, especially in economically challenging times. Similarly, we have a responsibility to maintain the high standard of service quality that has clearly differentiated us over the years. Crothall's ability to balance the two will be key to delivering future success for our customers and people.

It is incumbent upon us to continue to help our customers understand the true financial benefits we can deliver through the services we provide. We have invested time, talent, and resources in developing a world-class patient throughput model that not only cuts costs for our hospitals through efficiencies, but actually drives revenues through increased capacity. Another way we help our customers' financial picture is through the maintenance of their revenue-generating medical equipment. In an ever-changing technical environment, the investment we make in our people is essential. Our Clinical Equipment Services division recruits and trains our engineers to support the increasingly complex needs of our hospital customers, especially in high-end imaging equipment. We ensure the expertise of our people because we know we can never afford to lose our edge.

It is also important for us to invest in the right people who provide the right fit for our customers and their diverse staff and patient community. A great deal of our success depends not just on doing the best job technically, but also in the hospitality we show to the patients we serve. This requires ongoing training for diversity, and I believe we have a solid system in place to continue to improve our cultural competence.

I am so proud of how we are growing and maturing as an organization, ensuring long-term success by doing the right things for our stakeholders. I hope you enjoy this issue of Celebrations, as we explore today's issues and what Crothall's people and solutions can do to help.

All the best,