Executive Director Mark Hatting Leads Surgical Institute into the Future

As executive director of Surgical Institute of South Dakota, P.C., Mark Hatting has played a large role in building the culture and managing the growth of the organization, which is made up of a team of caring professionals specializing in general surgery, providing services to Sioux Falls and regional rural facilities. 

Just as the field of medicine has undergone significant change over the past few decades, so has Surgical Institute. It was the late 1980s when the medical group was formed under the name Dakota Surgical by physicians Fred Harris and Don Wingert. Over the years, the group grew, and by 2002, the group had employed six physicians. Later that year, when Dr. Harris branched out on his own, the remaining physicians formed what is now known as the Surgical Institute of South Dakota, P.C. 

Hatting was brought on to Dakota Surgical in 2002 and assisted the group during its transformation to Surgical Institute of South Dakota, P.C. He is a CPA by trade, armed with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Northern Iowa. Hatting’s career experience included auditing and cost report preparation for health care facilities, experience that has benefited the SI group. 

After working with South Dakota rural hospitals and nursing homes as a CPA, he left the public accounting profession and gained his initial experience in medical group management with a clinic in Madison, South Dakota. From there, he took his current SI position. Hatting is a 16 year resident of Sioux Falls and is married with three grown children and eight grandchildren.

In his executive director role, he manages all business aspects of the practice, including employee recruitment and retention, compliance with federal and state regulations, human resources, CFO functions, and serves as a liaison between the group’s physicians and local hospitals. 

Even through change, Surgical Institute’s success has remained a constant since the day the doors were opened, as they have continued to adapt to those changes. “When I arrived In the Sioux Falls region in 2002, most physicians were practicing as independent groups,” Hatting says. As the years went by, many physicians transitioned from practicing independently to entering into employment agreements with local health systems. However, there are still several specialty groups, including SI, that have continued to remain independent while being competitive in their market. 

“We have a close working relationship with Avera McKennan Hospital, as we staff their trauma service and their acute surgical service,” Hatting explained. “From our perspective, this collaboration has been mutually beneficial as it has allowed us to align with a premier health system to providie services they need while being able to be involved in the management of those services.”

The majority of SI’s procedures are performed on the Sioux Falls Avera McKennan campus, which is also where their headquarters are located. Currently SI employs 42 professionals: nine full-time physicians and one part-time physician, 10 advanced practice providers and 22 support staff. Hired on as the group’s 18th employee, Hatting says Surgical Institute enjoys a low employee turnover. “I believe we’ve built a culture here that makes it an employer of choice,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate to have low employee turnover.”

Hatting says much of SI’s growth can be attributed to the population growth of Sioux Falls and surrounding areas, as well as complex case referrals from rural hospitals in the area. Bariatric practices are a large portion of what SI does, and all its physicians use the latest state-of-the-art technology in procedures, such as robotic assisted surgery.

“Our physicians thrive in an environment of practicing independently and my hope is that we are able to keep thriving as an independent group well into the future,” Hatting said. “I want Surgical Institute to be known for providing compassionate care to patients using cutting edge technology. At the end of day, it’s all about taking care of patients, and if we excel at that, everything else will take care of itself.”