Becker's Hospital Review

22 POPULATION HEALTH 22 CEO/STRATEGY South Carolina health system lays off 327 employees By Alia Paavola I n a second round of layoffs, Columbia, S.C.-based Pris- ma Health said it is letting 327 employees go to improve operating efficiencies. e 13-hospital system said the affected positions include ad- ministrative, corporate and clinical roles at all of its campuses. is is the second set of layoffs to cut redundancies and streamline the organization, according to a news release from the health system. Last October, Prisma cut 200 jobs. Affected employees will receive severance pay and out- placement services. Prisma is encouraging staff to apply for open positions in the organization. "e healthcare environment in which we operate is be- coming increasingly challenging for a variety of reasons, including lower reimbursements and increasing num- bers of patients who are underinsured or uninsured," said Mark O'Halla, president and CEO of Prisma Health. "ese are difficult decisions, but we need to make them now so we can provide the quality care our patients de- serve in a financially sustainable manner that positions us for future growth." In addition to the layoffs, Prisma also plans to phase out its subacute unit at Prisma Health Greenville (S.C.) Me- morial Hospital and its Children's Residential Program in Greenville this year. n Piedmont Healthcare splits from Georgia Hospital Association By Ayla Ellison P iedmont Healthcare, an 11-hospital system based in Atlanta, has quit the Georgia Hospital Association, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Though the publication said Piedmont's split from the group could weaken the Georgia Hospital Association's influence, the lobbying group said that is not the expected outcome because the two have a unified message. "Piedmont has been at the table and even had member- ship on our board of directors and been fully aligned with the vast majority of the perspectives of the industry," Ethan James, executive vice president of the Georgia Hospital Association, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Piedmont, which has its own lobbyists, said the dues to the hospital association were too high. Big health systems, such as Piedmont, usually pay higher dues than smaller systems or standalone hospitals, according to the report. The loss of Piedmont's dues will not have a major impact on the hospital association's finances, GHA President and CEO Earl Rogers wrote in a letter to the Albany Herald. "The fact is, GHA's member dues account for just over one-quarter of our total revenue. GHA is well-positioned to continue providing crucial services our hospital mem- bers have come to expect, including advocacy, insurance and legal information, data analysis, clinical education, and community board training, especially to our small, rural hospitals," Mr. Rogers wrote. n Arizona hospital responds to 'women don't do well here' physician job posting By Kelly Gooch W estern Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City responded to a ZipRecruiter physician job post- ing and its wording related to gender, according to The Arizona Republic. The December 2019 ad has been taken down but was for a hos- pitalist physician at a 139-bed hospital in Bullhead City — a de- scription only fitting Western Arizona Regional. It described a "tough facility and medical staff" and stated that the hospitalist physician "must have back bone and be diplomat- ic, excellent customer service skills. Women don't do well here." Western Arizona Regional officials told The Arizona Republic that the posting was "a shock" and that the language in it "is not re- flective of our organization." Ascend Medical, a North Salt Lake, Utah-based medical staffing company, is listed as the poster of the ad, but did not respond to inquiries from the newspaper. A spokesperson for Western Arizona Regional told The Arizona Republic that the hospital is not affiliated with Ascend Medical and is looking into how the ad ended up on ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter removed the job description after Canadian physi- cian Thais Coutinho, MD, raised awareness about it, the newspa- per reported. The physician posted a link to the ad and tweeted, "And then they say there is no gender bias in medicine ... Look at his hospitalist ad from Arizona." n

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