Becker's Hospital Review

23 23 CEO/STRATEGY Hospital CEOs hold on to their jobs longer in these 17 states By Emily Rappleye K eeping with a three-year trend, hospital CEO turnover re- mained at 18 percent in 2017, according to the American College of Healthcare Executives. "According to our data, the past five years have been the longest period of continu- ously elevated CEO turnover rates above 18 percent since we began studying turn- over in the early 1980s," Deborah Bow- en, ACHE's president and CEO, said in a press release. Hospital CEO turnover hit a record high of 20 percent in 2013. "Hospitals and health systems continue to evolve and reorganize to meet the de- mands of the new healthcare environment at the same time many CEOs are reaching retirement age, all of which may be con- tributing to CEO turnover," Ms. Bowen added. "More than ever, C-suite succes- sion planning and more intentional focus on the professional development of new leaders is vital to organizational success." Here's how all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico stacked up for hospital CEO turnover in 2017: ACHE ranks the following as "high turnover states": 1. Connecticut — 38 percent CEO turn- over 2. Wyoming — 38 percent 3. Idaho — 36 percent 4. Puerto Rico — 35 percent 5. New Mexico — 31 percent 6. Wisconsin — 25 percent 7. Washington — 25 percent 8. Oklahoma — 25 percent 9. South Carolina — 24 percent 10. (tie) Alaska — 22 percent 11. (tie) Hawaii — 22 percent 12. Florida — 22 percent 13. Missouri — 21 percent 14. Alabama — 20 percent 15. Massachusetts — 20 percent 16. Virginia — 20 percent 17. (tie) Delaware — 20 percent 18. (tie) Rhode Island — 20 percent ACHE ranks the following as "medium turnover states": 19. Georgia — 20 percent 20. Texas — 19 percent 21. Illinois — 19 percent 22. Michigan — 19 percent 23. Ohio — 18 percent 24. Colorado — 18 percent 25. Pennsylvania — 17 percent 26. Minnesota — 17 percent 27. Iowa — 17 percent 28. Arizona — 17 percent 29. Kentucky — 17 percent 30. Nebraska — 16 percent 31. Kansas — 16 percent 32. Tennessee — 16 percent 33. North Dakota — 15 percent 34. Louisiana — 15 percent 35. Indiana — 15 percent ACHE ranks the following as "low turnover states": 36. Oregon — 15 percent 37. Mississippi — 15 percent 38. District of Columbia — 14 percent 39. New Jersey — 14 percent 40. California — 14 percent 41. North Carolina — 14 percent 42. Nevada — 14 percent 43. Montana — 13 percent 44. Maine — 13 percent 45. New York — 12 percent 46. New Hampshire — 12 percent 47. Maryland — 11 percent 48. Utah — 11 percent 49. West Virginia — 11 percent 50. South Dakota — 9 percent 51. Vermont — 8 percent 52. Arkansas — 7 percent Rates are rounded to the nearest whole percent. n Healthcare CEO gets prison time for role in $19.4M kickback scheme By Ayla Ellison T he former CEO of American Senior Communities, an Indianapolis-based skilled nursing and rehabilitation pro- vider, was sentenced June 29 to nine and a half years in prison for his role in a fraud, kickback and money laundering conspiracy, according to the Department of Justice. Federal agents began their investigation into James Burkhart three years ago. In Septem- ber 2015, agents executed search warrants of his residence and ASC office. About a year later, Mr. Burkhart and three others — Daniel Benson, the former COO of American Senior Communities; Steven Ganote, an associate; and Joshua Burkhart, Mr. Burkhart's younger brother — were indicted by a federal grand jury. All of the defendants, including Mr. Bur- khart, had pleaded guilty to federal felony charges by January 2018. Mr. Burkhart and his co-conspirators were ac- cused of creating shell companies that would inflate vendors' bills and submit them to ASC as if the shell companies were the real ven- dors. He also caused vendors or shell com- panies to submit false bills to ASC for ficti- tious services that were never provided, and, in some cases, demanded vendors pay him kickbacks in exchange for allowing them to service ASC's large number of facilities. In addition, Mr. Burkhart had vendors inflate their bills to ASC, which he would pay with money from Health & Hospital Corp. of Mari- on County, the public health department that operates several Indianapolis hospitals. The vendors would allegedly kick the overage back to Mr. Burkhart and his co-conspirators. According to the DOJ, Mr. Burkhart and his co-conspirators funneled nearly $19.4 million to themselves through the scheme. The ma- jority of the funds came from Health & Hospi- tal Corp. of Marion County. Mr. Burkhart was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to three felony offenses: con- spiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to vio- late the healthcare Anti-Kickback Statute and money laundering. n

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