Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic will provide its staff with a minimum 4 percent raise after the system came under fire for a 2 percent raise announced in January, the Post Bulletin reported Feb. 15.

Nonprofit hospital CEOs make an average of eight times more than workers without advanced degrees, according to an analysis by the Lown Institute of more than 1,000 hospitals. 

To boost employee retention and recruitment amid a drastic labor shortage, several hospitals, health systems and states are making major investments in the healthcare workforce.

Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Healthcare will make a $125 million investment in its employees in 2022 by offering $110 million in pay increases and $15 million in benefit enhancements.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services said Feb. 9 that it will begin distributing $116 million for new-hire and retention bonuses for home- and community-based employees.

Amid the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity for boards of nonprofit hospitals to rethink how their CEOs are paid, particularly compared to the staff at their facilities, representatives with the Lown Institute wrote in a Feb. 10 article published in Health Affairs.

Franklin, Tenn.-based Acadia Healthcare will pay director and CEO Debbie Osteen $900,000 to stay with the company for two extra months, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

As hospitals and lawmakers urge federal authorities to investigate travel staffing agencies for price-gouging, some travel nurses want the scrutiny redirected toward health systems' C-suites.

To recognize the work employees are doing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health is giving full-time and part-time team members bonuses of up to $1,250, the health system's chairman and CEO, Alan Levine, said Feb. 2. 

Kelby Krabbenhoft abruptly exited Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health in November 2020, days after he sent an email to employees explaining his stance against face masks. Now the former president and CEO is expected to be a symbolic face for opposition to Medicaid expansion.

Physicians employed by group practices owned by health systems are mostly paid based on the volume of care, despite recent insurance companies' efforts to pay based on quality, a Jan. 28 Rand study published in Jama Health Forum found.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health is investing $40 million into rewards for staff.

Texas is offering hiring bonuses of up to $5,000 to nurses and other healthcare workers at state-supported living centers and state hospitals, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission said Jan. 24. 

Despite the financial blows delivered to the country’s healthcare systems during the past two years, many organizations continue to operate in a predominantly fee-for-volume environment while slowly transitioning towards a value-based care model. However, its well known that you can’t ride two horses at the same time. This idiom holds true in healthcare as systems struggle to flip the healthcare paradigm from volume to value. Uniform patient growth and retention strategies simply can’t thrive in care environments with divergent business models. 

After announcing raises earlier in January, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is responding to employees who were disappointed in the amount, according to the Post Bulletin.

Several states, hospitals and health systems have made investments to retain and recruit employees as the nation deals with a major workforce shortage.

Beaufort (S.C.) Memorial Hospital has created a homebuyer assistance program to help staff purchase a home or refinance mortgages, with up to $10,000 in assistance.

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic will provide its employees with a 2 percent raise in 2022 with a 2.75 multiplier, which is the same as the raise they received in 2020 before the pandemic and less than the national trend, the Post Bulletin reported Jan. 18.

Workers at 11 hospitals are still experiencing payment issues from the Dec. 11 ransomware attack on Kronos Private Cloud, according to news reports.

University of Cincinnati Health has boosted minimum wage to $15 an hour and is providing market pay adjustments and an incentive program for employees, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Jan. 10.