WICHITA — The founders of the new Vis Clinic told Have You Heard? last week that they left Riordan Clinic (the former Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International) in part because of an increased focus on business and a decreased emphasis on patient care.
CEO Brian Riordan, son of the late clinic founder Hugh Riordan, wasn’t immediately available for comment Friday but is now.
Patient care has “always been a focus, and we’ve never done anything to diminish that or sacrifice it,” Riordan says. “In fact, it’s improving.”
He is, though, paying “more attention to nickels and dimes.”
Without that, Riordan says, the clinic would cease to exist.
“We have reserves, but the operating loss is substantial,” he says.
Riordan won’t discuss specific numbers, but since he took over in January, he says, the clinic is “much, much improved” financially.
“We had a huge loss in 2009. We’ll have a much smaller loss in 2010.”
By next year, Riordan thinks the clinic will no longer be losing money, “which is kind of a miraculous recovery from 2009.”
One step toward financial wellness was to convert the clinic’s restaurant to a smoothie bar, which has been an unpopular move with some.
