Becker's Hospital Review

43 43 CEO/STRATEGY Physicians at CHI St. Alexius Williston join Bismarck colleagues in call for Fargo leadership change By Leo Vartorella P hysicians at CHI St. Alexius Williston (N.D.) Medical Center have joined colleagues at CHI St. Alexius Bismarck (N.D.) Medical Center in calls for a leadership shakeup in CHI's Fargo Divi- sion, according to e Bismarck Tribune. irteen physicians on the medical executive com- mittee at the Bismarck hospital threatened to resign unless CHI Fargo leaders stepped down. e letter alleged poor leadership was leading to declining phy- sician engagement and lower care quality. Physicians at the Williston hospital sent a letter to the CHI St. Alexius Health Board May 14 saying they un- derstood the Bismarck physicians' frustration. "We have routinely identified issues with the Fargo Division Administrative team that contradict the Liv- ing Our Mission Measures, including some of those mentioned in the Bismarck letter. We have attempt- ed to address these through traditional channels in the organization with the same exhaustion," the Wil- liston physicians wrote, according to e Bismarck Tribune. "We also understand the requested changes will not resolve all of the issues that face the region, but the current division leadership has failed and de- clines to engage in improvement efforts." Officials from CHI St. Alexius Health say they are in talks with the dissenting parties, though they did not announce any leadership changes within the Far- go Division. ey also emphasized that the letters of complaint have not interrupted care delivery at either the Bismarck or Williston hospitals. "We understand the importance of dialogue among CHI leadership and CHI St. Alexius Health system, and we're committed to continuing this dialogue while working together to provide quality care to our patients," a spokesperson for CHI St. Alexius Health wrote in an email to Becker's. "CHI Fargo Division leadership has already begun meeting with providers today at CHI St. Alexius Health Williston Medical Center and will meet with other providers within the CHI St. Alexius system in the coming weeks." n What barbershops can teach hospitals about healthcare delivery By Alyssa Rege H ospitals and providers can learn a thing or two about health- care delivery from unlikely community sources, Aaron Carroll, MD, associate dean for research mentoring at the Indiana Uni- versity School of Medicine in Indianapolis and a New York Times con- tributor, writes in a recent op-ed. The first place healthcare officials should look for guidance? Barbershops. In his op-ed, Dr. Carroll cites a study published April 8 in The New En- gland Journal of Medicine that aimed to examine how patients would respond to pharmacist-led interventions that were encouraged and led by barbers in their facilities, removing physicians from the process. Researchers found patients who took part in the intervention, which fo- cused on hypertension in men, saw their systolic blood pressure drop to a level much closer to "normal" blood pressure levels and noted the rate of cohort retention was 95 percent, according to Dr. Carroll. He notes the barbershop customers represented a segment of the pop- ulation that is traditionally hard to reach for medical professionals. How- ever, patients who participated saw an improvement in their blood pres- sure more than three times the average of previous pharmacist-based interventions, which typically examined easier-to-reach populations. "The larger implications of this study shouldn't be ignored. Getting barbers involved meant health messages came from trusted members of the community. Locating the intervention in barbershops meant patients could receive care without inconvenience, with peer support. Using pharmacists meant that care could be delivered more efficient- ly," Dr. Carroll wrote. "If we really want to improve health on a large scale, especially with populations distrustful of the healthcare system, it seems we need to go to where they are; to use people they trust to deliver messages; and to allow care to occur without much of the infrastructure usually demanded for billing," he added. n CEO pay, performance rarely align By Leo Vartorella T hough company boards attempt to attract high-performing CEOs with high salaries and hope to determine compensation based on results, the performance of many high-level CEOs does not correlate with their salary, according to The Wall Street Journal. Only two of the highest paid CEOs in 2017 who did not leave their posts before the end of the year led their companies to finish the year among the top 20 companies for shareholder returns. "Stars are often underpaid, while average performers are often over- paid," Herman Aguinis, PhD, a professor at George Washington Uni- versity School of Business in Washington, D.C., told the WSJ. Boards often determine CEO pay based on the compensation of com- petitors, even though their performance may vary greatly. In a study of more than 4,000 CEO salaries, Dr. Aguinis found nearly no overlap be- tween the top 1 percent of CEO compensation and the top 1 percent of CEO performance. n

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