June 2021 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review
ON THE COVER
35 billionaires in US healthcare
Thirty-five U.S. healthcare leaders made Forbes' 35th annual list of the world's richest people in 2021, which saw an "unprecedented" number of newcomers. Eight of the 493 newcomers were in U.S. healthcare, according to Forbes.
The hospital CEO agenda: What 4 leaders are starting, stopping
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced hospital and health system CEOs to rethink how their organizations operate. This means not only starting something new to improve and innovate medical care, but also stopping, halting or quitting approaches that may not fit well in the new healthcare environment.
31 numbers that show how big Epic, Cerner, Allscripts & Meditech are in healthcare
Below are 31 quick notes on the positions of Epic, Cerner, Allscripts and Meditech in the EHR market.
Viewpoint: Ditch the term 'vaccine passport' and try these messaging strategies instead
The term "vaccine passport" has fueled political division, posing the need for an overhaul of the language used to describe COVID-19 vaccine verification, according to Brian Castrucci, DrPH, and Frank Luntz.
29 physician specialties ranked by annual compensation
During the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care physicians earned an average annual compensation of $242,000 and specialists earned an average of $344,000 — a decrease of $1,000 and $2,000, respectively, compared to before the public health crisis hit.
Washington health system blames Cerner for bankruptcy
Astria Health's former EHR and revenue cycle vendor is to blame for the health system's bankruptcy and the closure of one of its hospitals last year, according to a complaint filed March 22 in bankruptcy court.
UnitedHealthcare squeezes competition like a 'boa constrictor,' physicians say
A large group of anesthesiologists is suing UnitedHealthcare in Colorado and Texas, alleging the health insurance giant is suppressing competition by forcing physicians out of its network and pushing hospitals to stop referring patients to them, according to The New York Times.
Executive pay at CHS, Tenet and HCA: 12 things to know
Some top executives at major for-profit hospital operators saw their total compensation rise last year, while others saw total pay decline.
It will now take 135+ years to close gender pay gap because of pandemic
An additional 36 years have been added to the estimated time it will take to close the gender pay gap, bringing the total to 135 years, according to a March 30 report published by the World Economic Forum.
Healthcare disruptors: 4 hospital IT execs weigh in on retaining tech talent
As retail and tech giants like Amazon, Walmart and Google continue to scale healthcare efforts, hospitals and health systems are left looking to compete not just with retaining patients, but keeping their IT and other employees, too.
Ascension's technology business to lay off 651 employees
Ascension Technologies, the IT subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ascension, plans to lay off an estimated 651 remote workers this year, according to an April 30 St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.
Sutter hospital fined $155K over infection control violations after nurse's death
California health officials have fined Oakland, Calif.-based Alta Bates Summit Medical Center $155,250 over workplace infection control standards, the California Nurses Association said March 19.
Emerging trends among COVID-19 long-haulers: 6 physicians weigh in
Early research estimates have shown anywhere between 10 percent to 30 percent of people with COVID-19 go on to become long-haulers, or those who experience persistent symptoms weeks or months after the infection has cleared. With more than 31.2 million COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S., and with the pandemic still raging, the number of people who are or will experience long-term effects presents health systems a profound challenge.
Bob Sutton
Leaders must be fully present with their colleagues and staff to effectively hear them and respond to them.
Naomi Cramer
Naomi Cramer spent 25 years working at Target, where she rose in the ranks to become vice president of talent management, before joining Phoenix-based Banner Health six years ago.
Tracey Moffatt, BSN, RN
New Orleans-based Ochsner Health hasn't reported any COVID-19 deaths for its nursing staff across the entire system.
Michael Dowling
Michael Dowling's childhood home in Knockaderry, Ireland, was a thatched-roof cottage made of mud and stone. It lacked electricity, indoor plumbing and running water. To obtain peat to heat it, he traveled an hour with his father in a borrowed donkey cart to a bog.
Rick Evans
If the core of patient experience has been focused on compassion in the past, it now is also increasingly focused on convenience.
Janice Nevin, MD
Janice Nevin, MD, MPH, serves as President and Chief Executive Officer at ChristianaCare.
Joan Coffman
Joan Coffman, president and CEO of St. Tammany Health System in Covington, La., said she has faced challenges such as Hurricane Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have helped shape her leadership skills and improved her ability to deal with change.
CFO / FINANCE
Washington health system blames Cerner for bankruptcy
Astria Health's former EHR and revenue cycle vendor is to blame for the health system's bankruptcy and the closure of one of its hospitals last year, according to a complaint filed March 22 in bankruptcy court.
UVA Health to drop thousands of lawsuits against patients for unpaid bills
University of Virginia Health will wipe out a decades-old backlog of court judgments and liens resulting from lawsuits it brought against patients for unpaid hospital bills, the Charlottesville-based health system said April 19.
Billing errors resulted in $23.6M in overpayments to HCA hospital, inspector general finds
Las Vegas-based Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, failed to comply with Medicare billing requirements for 54 of 100 inpatient and outpatient claims reviewed by the HHS Office of Inspector General, according to an inspector general's report released March 31.
UnitedHealthcare squeezes competition like a 'boa constrictor,' physicians say
A large group of anesthesiologists is suing UnitedHealthcare in Colorado and Texas, alleging the health insurance giant is suppressing competition by forcing physicians out of its network and pushing hospitals to stop referring patients to them, according to The New York Times.
Lawyers want $184M slice of Sutter antitrust settlement
The California Attorney General's Office and five law firms that sued Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health alleging antitrust violations are seeking 32 percent, or $184 million, of the $575 million settlement that would end the litigation, according to Bloomberg Law.
CEO/STRATEGY
The hospital CEO agenda: What 4 leaders are starting, stopping
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced hospital and health system CEOs to rethink how their organizations operate. This means not only starting something new to improve and innovate medical care, but also stopping, halting or quitting approaches that may not fit well in the new healthcare environment.
Rhode Island hospital finance chief dodged 2 layoff attempts in the last year
The chief of operations and financial management at Eleanor Slater Hospital, an embattled state-run psychiatric hospital in Cranston, R.I., avoided losing his job for months despite two layoff attempts, according to local news station WPRI.
What hospital leaders can learn from 175,334 patient comments
There are only a few different themes that characterize a positive patient experience, yet there are a variety of missteps that can cause patient dissatisfaction, according to an April 2 report published in Harvard Business Review.
Boston has more hospital chiefs on corporate boards than other cities, investigation finds
An investigation published by The Boston Globe reveals that it is commonplace for hospital chiefs in Boston to work as directors of publicly traded companies, and that they do so at rates above the national level.
North Carolina health system CEO delays departure to finalize merger
Randolph Health CEO Angela Orth is extending her employment with the Asheboro, N.C.-based system while a merger with American Healthcare Systems is finalized, according to the Triad Business Journal.
WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP
It will now take 135+ years to close gender pay gap because of pandemic
An additional 36 years have been added to the estimated time it will take to close the gender pay gap, bringing the total to 135 years, according to a March 30 report published by the World Economic Forum.
5 ways adding women to the C-suite can improve your hospital
Companies with a higher share of women in C-suite positions are more profitable, more socially responsible, and have better safety and customer experience, according to research published in Harvard Business Review.
A former Target exec is transforming Banner into the 'employer of the future'
Naomi Cramer spent 25 years working at Target, where she rose in the ranks to become vice president of talent management, before joining Phoenix-based Banner Health six years ago.
Mental health issues jumped for women at start of pandemic, study finds
Mental health issues among U.S. women increased early in the pandemic and may be driven, in part, by greater socioeconomic challenges, according to a study published April 5 in the Journal of Women's Health.
'Femtech' to address women's health expected to grow to $1B industry
Women represent half of the global population, but only a fraction of technology is geared toward women. Growth in "femtech" may finally change that, according to an April 7 report by The New York Times.
INNOVATION
Mayo Clinic launches 2 companies in support of new health analytics platform initiative
Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic launched two new companies to support its newly developed Remote Diagnostics and Management Platform, which connects data with artificial intelligence technologies for clinical decision support.
Fauci: US won't mandate vaccine passports
Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Politico's "Dispatch" podcast that the federal government will not mandate COVID-19 vaccine passports for businesses or events.
Here's what Northwell is doing with 2,800 Amazon Echo devices
New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health is expanding a program to equip COVID-19 patients' rooms with Amazon Echo Show devices, which feature two-way video calling capabilities that let clinicians check on patients via video, CNN reports.
Weill Cornell physicians testing prescription video game to curb COVID-19 brain fog
Researchers from New York City-based Weill Cornell Medicine are testing a prescription video game to see if it can help with memory loss and attention problems after recovery from COVID-19, according to an April 19 report by The Verge.
Ochsner Health, Xavier launch new grad programs for tech-driven medical careers
Ochsner Health and Xavier University of Louisiana, both based in New Orleans, are teaming up on new graduate education programs that aim to accelerate medical technology careers in healthcare.
CIO/HEALTH IT
What Microsoft's $20B Nuance acquisition means for big tech's healthcare push: 7 details
With a nearly $20 billion acquisition of speech recognition company Nuance Communications, Microsoft aims to get a leg up in its healthcare competition with other tech giants, according to an April 13 Wall Street Journal report.
Hackers download Trinity Health patients' PHI: 5 details
Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health is notifying patients that their protected health information was recently accessed and downloaded by an unauthorized user, according to an April 5 news release.
31 numbers that show how big Epic, Cerner, Allscripts & Meditech are in healthcare
Below are 31 quick notes on the positions of Epic, Cerner, Allscripts and Meditech in the EHR market.
Conifer names chief technology officer
Muthu Krishnan, PhD, has been named chief technology officer of Conifer Health Solutions, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare that offers revenue cycle management services and works with healthcare organizations to improve their financial and clinical operations.
8 things that make Amazon Care unique from competitors
Amazon has surpassed milestones in its expansion into the healthcare sector. Unlike traditional healthcare organizations, the company's virtual care pilot, Amazon Care, adopted a unique business model. Here are eight things that make Amazon Care different from traditional healthcare organizations.
CMO/CARE DELIVERY
COVID-19 vaccine side effects and transmission: 4 Qs, answered
Vaccine small talk has trickled into Americans' daily conversations now that 33 percent of adults have received their first dose.
Sutter hospital fined $155K over infection control violations after nurse's death
California health officials have fined Oakland, Calif.-based Alta Bates Summit Medical Center $155,250 over workplace infection control standards, the California Nurses Association said March 19.
Missouri physician collects $26M in wrongful termination lawsuit
An emergency room physician is collecting $26 million in a wrongful termination lawsuit against ER staffing company EmCare after originally being awarded $29 million in the case, according to KCUR.
Wisconsin hospital replaces anesthesiologists with CRNAs
Watertown (Wis.) Regional Medical Center has replaced its anesthesiologists with certified registered nurse anesthetists, and some physicians aren't happy about the change, according to Medscape Medical News.
Beth Israel Lahey's physician-poaching is hindering Massachusetts hospital's reopening, its president says
A Massachusetts hospital temporarily closed by severe flood damage is accusing Boston-based Beth Israel Lahey Health of poaching its affiliated physicians and undermining its recovery efforts, according to the Boston Business Journal.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Poverty, depression and domestic violence aren't just 'social determinants of health' to Northwell CEO Michael Dowling — they're part of his remarkable past
Michael Dowling's childhood home in Knockaderry, Ireland, was a thatched-roof cottage made of mud and stone. It lacked electricity, indoor plumbing and running water. To obtain peat to heat it, he traveled an hour with his father in a borrowed donkey cart to a bog.
NewYork-Presbyterian CXO Rick Evans: Access is the new patient experience
If the core of patient experience has been focused on compassion in the past, it now is also increasingly focused on convenience.
Becker's 11th Annual Meeting Speaker Series: 3 Questions with Dr. Janice Nevin, President and Chief Executive Officer at ChristianaCare
Janice Nevin, MD, MPH, serves as President and Chief Executive Officer at ChristianaCare.
Corner Office: St. Tammany CEO Joan Coffman on navigating change and leading with integrity
Joan Coffman, president and CEO of St. Tammany Health System in Covington, La., said she has faced challenges such as Hurricane Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have helped shape her leadership skills and improved her ability to deal with change.