Becker's ASC Review

44 HEALTHCARE NEWS New York hospital president departs 3 months into role By Emily Rappleye S hortly after his appointment in August, John Sperrazza, president of Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y., is leaving the role due to a personal "unanticipated change," a spokesperson for the hospital told The Buffalo News. Spokesperson Carrie Sette-Camara told The Buffalo News the change is not related to recent job cuts at the hospital's parent company, Catholic Health, also based in Buffalo. Mr. Sperrazza left the position the week of Nov. 18, accord- ing to the report. Marty Boryszak, the health system's senior vice president of acute care, will take on the role in the interim. Mr. Boryszak recently vacated the role of president and CEO of Sisters of Charity to take on his job at the sys- tem level. It was part of a broader reorganization of senior leadership that included Mr. Sperrazzo taking on the role of president. Mr. Sperrazzo previously served as COO of the hospital and its St. Joseph Campus in Cheektowaga, N.Y. n 150 SPINE AND ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS AND PAIN MANAGEMENT PHYSICIAN SPEAKERS, OVER 250 SPEAKERS TOTAL UPMC sees 122% increase in live organ transplants since 2012 By Gabrielle Mason Live-donor transplants at UPMC jumped from 54 in 2012 to 120 in 2018, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. In contrast, deceased donor transplants at Pittsburgh-based UPMC have declined by about 30 percent over the past decade, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. A stagnant supply of organs and increased competition from other transplant centers prompted UPMC to make its living-donor services an "organizational focus." The system is one of the few in the country to turn away from deceased donor transplantation, even launching a mar- keting campaign to raise awareness about living-donor liver transplants in September 2018. Living donation gives physicians more preparation time for surgery and the ability to comprehensively screen donors, Dr. Humar said. However, living-donor transplants expose a healthy person to the elective surgery risks like infections, hernias, blood clots and wound complications. UPMC's decline in deceased donor transplants has caused a total trans- plant decline of 38 percent. Despite this, Laura Aguiar, principal and managing partner of Transplant Solutions, told the Pittsburgh Tribune- Review that hospital chains cannot solely rely on organs from deceased donors if they want programs to grow. n HCSC to lay off dozens of employees after exec exits By Morgan Haefner H ealth Care Service Corp., the parent company of Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in five states, will lay off dozens of employees on the heels of several C-level exits. The job cuts will affect a few dozen middle-manage- ment positions including vice president roles, HCSC's spokesperson Greg Thompson told Crain's. The exact number of layoffs wasn't disclosed. The company has 23,000 employees. Mr. Thompson told Crain's the "changes will prepare us to meet new opportunities to best serve our mem- bers and will have no impact on member or provider service staffing levels, which increased in 2019 and will continue to expand in 2020." The announcement comes six months after HCSC's CEO Paula Steiner stepped down. This year, HCSC also lost its CFO, CIO, chief human resources officer and board director. n Sanford Health launches 'returnship' program By Emily Rappleye S ioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health launched a 12-week "returnship" pilot program to attract workers who have been out of the workforce. The program is targeted at professionals with degrees and a work history who left the workforce for 24 months or longer. The program offers workers paid positions in marketing and communications, finance and human resources, as well as employ- ment resources like mentorship, coach- ing and skills gap analyses, according to the report. Returnship participants will be evaluated for permanent roles at the end of the program. The health system hopes the program will help fill open jobs in a tight labor market, according to the report. n

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