Becker's Hospital Review

21 21 CEO/STRATEGY Amazon buys healthcare startup to power primary care program By Ayla Ellison A mazon has acquired a medical technology startup to help power Amazon Care, a primary care program launched in September at the company's Seattle headquarters. Amazon confirmed the acquisition of Health Navigator, a startup that provides technology and services to digital health companies, to CNBC. Health Navi- gator will be wrapped into Amazon Care, which offers employees virtual visits, in-home follow-ups if additional care is needed, and prescription deliveries. "The service eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection," an Am- azon spokesperson wrote in an email to CNBC. Health Navigator is Amazon's first health-related acquisition since it pur- chased PillPack for $753 million last year. Amazon didn't disclose financial terms of the Health Navigator deal. n S&P: Firms with female CEOs, CFOs are more profitable By Emily Rappleye F emale leaders and gender-diverse boards are linked to better stock prices and profitability, according to an S&P Global analysis. Companies with female CFOs generated $1.8 trillion in total excess profits over sector averages during the 17-year study period. S&P believes the study, which incorporates executive data from Russell 3000 compa- nies between December 2002 and May 2019, is one of the most extensive studies of executive gender diversity to date. Three more key findings: • Within two years of appointment, female CEOs increased stock pric- es 20 percent and female CFOs in- creased prices 8 percent. • Firms that appointed female CFOs saw a 6 percent increase in profit- ability within two years of the ap- pointment. • Greater gender diversity on boards was also associated with greater profitability. A second part of the analysis focused on identifying the traits that lead to success. S&P used natural language processing to analyze the biographies of the executives in the study, looking for achievements, education and personal traits more com- monly associated with success. S&P found female executives had similar traits to the most successful male execu- tives, suggesting that female executives are held to a higher standard, but that similar traits help both genders succeed. The findings diverge from previous re- search that suggested the link between female leaders and higher earnings is related to how women approach invest- ing or other gender-based behavioral differences. Instead, S&P found firms with higher earnings quality and lower lever- age are more likely to also have a culture that supports female leadership appoint- ment. In other words, a culture that sup- ports female leadership also supports financial success. n Why many women in healthcare are not promoted to top positions By Kelly Gooch W hile many women work in the healthcare services industry in entry-level roles, there is a scarcity of women in top health management positions, ac- cording to e Wall Street Journal. New data cited by the newspaper from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey& Co shows women in entry-level roles, such as nurses, home health aides and recently graduated physicians, rep- resent 75 percent of employees in a sample of more than 20 companies. In those same com- panies, which includes hospital systems and other direct-care providers, women in C-suite roles represent 33 percent of employees, while women in senior vice president positions represent 41 percent. Women in vice president roles represent 47 percent. Julie Silver, MD, director of Harvard's leadership course and a professor at the Boston medical school, told e Wall Street Journal the scarcity of women in top health manage- ment roles "is not because they don't want the positions, it's not because they don't work hard enough, it's not because they're not qualified for the positions. It's not because there's a lack of a pipeline of talented women who could be promoted." Rather, the newspaper reported, citing interviews and the data, women face challenges to advancement early. Janette Dill, PhD, a professor of health policy and management at Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota, told e Wall Street Journal that in healthcare, one of those bar- riers may be not having the education required for certain management roles. Overall, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey& Co conclude that "women continue to be under- represented at every level. To change the numbers, companies need to focus where the real problem is. We oen talk about the 'glass ceiling' that prevents women from reaching senior leadership positions." "In reality, the biggest obstacle that women face is much earlier in the pipeline, at the first step up to manager. Fixing this 'broken rung' is the key to achieving parity," researchers added. n

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