Becker's Hospital Review

44 POPULATION HEALTH 44 CEO/STRATEGY Trinity Health restructuring to affect nearly 1,700 employees By Alyssa Rege L ivonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health an- nounced Feb. 6 immediate and long- term plans to restructure operations, which would affect at least 1,650 employees across its 94 hospitals and care sites. Officials said the efforts include potential job changes and relocations, along with the cre- ation of three centralized patient billing ser- vice centers. "Trinity Health is transforming at the clinical and administrative levels for the benefit of the people and communities we serve," Michael Slubowski, president and COO of Trinity Health, said in a statement. "We are commit- ted to supporting our teams and colleagues through the changes, all of which position us for improved patient experiences, an infor- mation technology structure that enables us to provide coordinated care to patients across the system, and increased efficiency to help make care more affordable." e restructuring comes amid Trinity Health's transition to Epic's EHR system. A health system spokesperson confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review in April 2018 Trinity Health was reviewing its EHR strategy as part of a broader strategic plan to shi from a pro- ducer-centered to people-centered system, which emphasizes population value. As part of the restructuring, the health sys- tem will initiate changes to its patient billing services through 2022. Trinity Health facili- ties will maintain their own revenue cycle op- erations until their respective transitions. Of- ficials said the planned revenue cycle changes were part of the system's strategy before its decision to transition to Epic. Approximately 450 IT workers whose posi- tions support Trinity Health's current EHR and its related applications will transition to the system's application management ser- vices partner, Leidos. As Trinity Health tran- sitions to Epic, those support positions for legacy applications will no longer be needed, and those employees will transition to Lei- dos to aid the company's other applications management support clients. e health system plans to offer relocation assistance to employees who move and op- portunities to transition to other jobs in their current locations. Officials will provide sev- erance pay and outplacement services to em- ployees who end up leaving the system. Hospitals within Trinity Health reported that some employees would be laid off due to restructuring efforts. Boise, Idaho-based Saint Alphonsus Health System will face 181 job cuts in October, according to the Idaho Statesman, while Syracuse, N.Y.-based St. Jo- seph's Health reported 113 jobs would be af- fected by the changes, WSYR-TV. n 5 most innovative hospitals, according to 300+ hospital leaders By Jessica Kim Cohen T he plurality of hospital leaders (14 percent) agreed Roch- ester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is the most innovative hospital in the U.S., according to a Reaction Data report. Reaction Data surveyed 341 C-level executives, depart- ment heads and staff members from hospitals and clinics across the U.S. for its annual report on hospital brand eq- uity. The firm asked survey participants what provider orga- nization comes to mind as being a model for innovation, quality care at a sustainable cost and thought leadership on topics related to healthcare transformation. The five provider organizations most frequently cited as a model for innovation: 1. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.): 14 percent 2. Cleveland Clinic: 10 percent 3. Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City): 10 percent 4. Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.): 9 percent 5. Geisinger (Danville, Pa.): 8 percent n Baylor Scott & White, Memorial Hermann end merger talks By Ayla Ellison D allas-based Baylor Scott & White Health and Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health Sys- tem decided to discontinue merger discussions roughly four months after signing a letter of intent to combine their organizations. "After months of thoughtful exploration, we have decid- ed to discontinue talks of a merger between our two sys- tems," the systems said in a joint statement. "Ultimately, we have concluded that as strong, successful organiza- tions, we are capable of achieving our visions for the fu- ture without merging at this time." Baylor Scott & White and Memorial Hermann did not cite a specific reason for ending merger talks. "We have a tremendous amount of respect for each other and remain committed to strengthening our communi- ties, advancing the health of Texans and transforming the delivery of care," the systems said. "We will continue to seek opportunities for collaboration as two forward-think- ing, mission-driven organizations." The combined system would have included 68 hospitals, about 15 percent of the total hospitals in Texas, accord- ing to The Dallas Morning News. n

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