Becker's Hospital Review

50 POPULATION HEALTH 50 CEO/STRATEGY Partners names interim CEO By Alyssa Rege P artners HealthCare named an interim successor to David Torchiana, MD, who plans to resign from his position as president and CEO of the system in April. The Boston-based health system's board of directors named Anne Klibanski, MD, interim chief executive on Feb. 18. Dr. Klibanski has served as Partners' chief academic of- ficer since 2012 and serves as the chief of neuroendocrine at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital. "Anne is one of our most experienced senior leaders as well as a distinguished clinician, researcher and teacher. She has broad responsibility for many of our key missions and is a proven leader and manager of complex efforts with extensive experience overseeing large clinical and executive teams, crafting a system- wide approach to future state radiology, pathology and anesthesiology structure and investments. Anne will work closely with hospital presidents, clinicians, researchers and administrative leadership to guide important systemwide initiatives such as Partners 2.0," Scott Sperling, chair of the Partners board of directors, said in a news release. Dr. Klibanski received her bachelor's degree in litera- ture from Barnard College and her MD degree from the New York University School of Medicine, both in New York City. Partners officials said the search for a permanent CEO will take up to one year. n Erlanger breeding culture of distrust among staff, physicians allege By Alyssa Rege R ecent decisions and alleged threats by leadership at Erlanger Health Sys- tem over physician contracts have re- portedly created a culture of distrust among physicians at the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based system, according to documents obtained by the Times Free Press. Four things to know: 1. e Times Free Press obtained letters sent to Erlanger's board of trustees discussing the system's plans to terminate its contract with Tennessee Interventional and Imaging Asso- ciates, or TIIA, if the group does not agree to a contract amendment giving Erlanger more control over the organization. TIIA physi- cians have provided care at Erlanger's stroke center since 2014. 2. At the heart of the dispute is the involve- ment of Erlanger board member Blaise Bax- ter, MD, who resigned from his leadership role at TIIA in January 2018. Documents ob- tained by the publication indicate that aer rehiring negotiations between TIIA and Dr. Baxter failed, Erlanger CEO Kevin Spiegel issued a contract termination notice to TIIA, citing financial concerns with the physician group. An Erlanger executive confirmed the contract termination to the Times Free Press. 3. While Erlanger has posited that the termi- nation notice stemmed from financial con- cerns, TIIA claims the company increased patient revenue by 23 percent during the 2017-18 calendar year, and that a third-par- ty audit found "[no] material issues ... regarding TIIA's practices and procedures," according to the report. "All of these meetings and conversations in 2018 revolved around the resignation and hiring of an Erlanger board of trustee mem- ber. TIIA can only conclude that the notice of termination has less to do with finances and more to do with Dr. Baxter's resignation from the group and Erlanger's insistence on rehir- ing him," the physician group wrote in a letter to the board. 4. e contract termination would likely put 50 TIIA employees out of work by July, in- cluding radiologists, nurses and administra- tors, the report stated. n New York hospital ICU chief: Complaints about problem physician 'fell on deaf ears' By Emily Rappleye A uburn (N.Y.) Community Hospital's chief of intensive care, Hal Feinberg, MD, said the hospital CEO ignored complaints of an abusive physician for months before taking action, according to a Syracuse.com report. Dr. Feinberg alleged he reported complaints from about 100 physicians, nurses and other staff to Auburn CEO Scott Berluc- chi last year. He said he spoke with Mr. Berlucchi once, some- times twice, per week due to the volume of complaints. Staff alleged an ICU physician, Jeremy Barnett, MD, was verbally abusive in front of patients and their families, and in some cas- es, ignored advice of other staff, which may have led to ad- verse patient outcomes, according to the report. "No matter what I said, it fell on deaf ears," Dr. Feinberg told Syracuse.com. Mr. Berlucchi told Dr. Feinberg to have staff put complaints in writing, he said. By Dr. Feinberg's account, staff complied and the hospital took no action. Ultimately, the nurs- es union, 1199 SEIU, got involved, as did the human resources department and the state. Two physicians filed lawsuits against the hospital for the two most serious complaints, one of which involved a patient death. A state health department investigation also found the hospital did not take appropriate action after staff lodged complaints about Dr. Barnett. n

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