Becker's Hospital Review

56 POPULATION HEALTH 56 CEO/STRATEGY Viewpoint: Baylor, Memorial Hermann breakup may be better for healthcare By Alyssa Rege R oughly four months aer announcing their intent to merge, Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health and Houston-based Me- morial Hermann Health System decided to end discussions on the planned combination Feb. 5. "Aer months of thoughtful exploration, we have decided to discontinue talks of a merger between our two systems. Ultimately, we have concluded that as strong, successful organizations, we are capable of achieving our visions for the future without merging at this time," the health systems said in joint statement. It is unclear what factors led to the breakup, which would have created a 68-hospital behe- moth with a combined revenue of nearly $15 bil- lion per year. However, several industry experts told e Dallas Morning News business columnist Mitchell Schnurman the breakup may prove to be better for the industry in the long run. When they announced their decision to merge in October 2018, the systems said they aimed to lower healthcare costs for patients. But some ex- perts suggest the opposite would have been true if the merger had been successful. "I'm surprised the deal fell apart, but I'm glad it did," Vivian Ho, PhD, an economics professor at Rice University in Houston, told the publication. "I thought it would be too much money for the companies to walk away from, but I was con- cerned it would hurt patients." "e track record of these large mergers is they don't provide savings or higher quality. More oen, they're about raising prices and improv- ing profits. e benefits usually don't go to pa- tients and employers," healthcare analyst Allan Baumgarten told e Dallas Morning News. However, Britt Berrett, PhD, a professor at the Uni- versity of Texas at Dallas, told the publication large- scale mergers like the proposed Baylor-Memorial Hermann combination are necessary to make the industry "more efficient, lower costs, improve qual- ity and increase access. ere will be many more of these combinations in healthcare." n Why Premier Health is turning to high schoolers to fill its workforce By Alyssa Rege T o keep up with growing workforce demands, Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health is turning to high schoolers for the first time in its history, according to the Dayton Business Journal. "Our current and future workforce needs require us to be more creative and to look for ways to introduce young students to a potential career in healthcare," Billie Lucente-Baker, the system director of talent acquisition at Premier Health, told the publication. High school students who are at least 16 years old will be eligible to fill jobs within the system's environmental, nutrition and linen services de- partments. Some students may also have the opportunity to become pa- tient care technicians, an entry-level position requiring enrollment or com- pletion of a state-tested nurse assistant course, the report states. While Premier Health is opening the opportunity to all area students, it hopes to attract those who foresee a future in the healthcare industry. "We see this as a new pipeline to draw future candidates into the health- care field. One of the best ways to foster an interest in a particular field is job shadowing — something that usually isn't offered until after high school. This opportunity will expose students to the healthcare field at an earlier age," Ms. Lucente-Baker added. n How can C-suite execs boost earnings? Talk like your CEO By Alyssa Rege M embers of the C-suite can earn higher salaries and potentially obtain seats on their organizations' corporate boards by parrot- ing their CEO's language style, according to a May 2018 study cited by Phys.org. For the study, researchers at the Houston-based Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business and the University of Miami Business School in Coral Gables, Fla., analyzed more than 2,300 companies' conference calls with investors and security analysts between 2002 and 2013. The researchers examined CFOs' "language matching style," or the un- conscious form of imitation using specific function words like "I," "we," or "us." Researchers found that the longer executives worked together, the more CFOs came to parrot the language their CEOs used, but the oppo- site typically did not hold true. While the study specifically examined the CEO-CFO dynamic, researchers said the idea of language-matching would likely apply to other members of the C-suite. "For instance, given that chief operating officers and CFOs have a low level of power imbalance and thus neither side has a strong incentive to ingratiate the other, COO-CFO language style matching may reflect their social bond, which might impact strategy implementation," the study authors wrote. n

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