Becker's Hospital Review

37 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP 37 CEO / STRATEGY Palomar Health nurses protest CEO's pay raise amid layoffs By Kelly Gooch A p ay r ais e for Pa l omar Health's CEO, Diane Hansen, sparked a protest by nurses Sept. 15 at Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Medical Cen- ter, e San Diego Union-Tribune reported. e protest took place aer Ms. Hansen signed an up- dated 27-month contract. Ms. Hansen has led Palomar Health since 2017, and her previous contract expired Sept. 10. e contract raised Ms. Hansen's base salary to $910,000, an increase of $110,000 from the previous contract. Nurses and other hospital workers "strongly oppose" the CEO pay raise amid layoffs by Palomar Health, as the health system "has made cuts in departments to make way for restructuring and implemented changes that negatively have affected patient care during the pan- demic," the California Nurses Association/Caregivers & Healthcare Employees Union said in a statement re- leased Sept. 14. "As patient advocates, nurses and caregivers say they will not be silenced and will continue to speak out on what is best for our patients," the union said in its statement. "Nurses and caregivers believe that Palomar Health should be focused on distributing the district's budget towards PPE and safe staffing for all of us to provide the safe patient care that our community deserves." Palomar Health Board Chair Richard Engel, MD, outlined the reasoning for the contract in a Sept. 15 news release. Under Ms. Hansen's leadership, the health system has seen various successes, he said, citing improved patient quality rankings and opening a crisis stabilization unit as some examples. e Palomar Health news release says the board consult- ed with multiple nationally recognized experts, and Ms. Hansen's new contract "is commensurate with compara- ble hospital system CEOs." "e contract is based on credible, independent and un- biased market analysis that is fair to both Ms. Hansen and the organization," Dr. Engel said in the news release, adding that the effects of the pandemic on executive compensation were taken into account. "I am confident Diane is the right leader for Palomar Health and I can unequivocally say we are very fortunate to have her as our CEO at this extremely critical time," Dr. Engel said. n Patience is a virtue — especially when leading in a crisis By Anuja Vaidya P atience is a key attribute for successful leadership, especially in the midst of a crisis, but many leaders find it a challenge to de- velop this trait, David Sluss, PhD, wrote in an article for Harvard Business Review. Dr. Sluss, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business in Atlanta, wrote that being patient in the face of adversity is important for fostering creativity and productivity. Research backs this up as well. Dr. Sluss surveyed 578 working profession- als in the U.S. across various industries during the COVID-19 lockdown. Survey respondents were asked about their immediate supervisor's lead- ership characteristics and level of patience, and they were asked to report their own levels of creativity, productivity and collaboration. Dr. Sluss found that when employees rated their supervisors as hav- ing a high level of patience, their self-reported levels of creativity and collaboration increased by an average of 16 percent and pro- ductivity by 13 percent. Dr. Sluss also suggested two ways leaders can develop patience: 1. Redefine what speed means to you and understand that moving quickly is not always correlated with delivering value. 2. Practice gratitude, as feeling more grateful can help people get better at delaying gratification, thus making them more patient. n Quorum CEO out after 2 months By Alia Paavola T wo months after taking the job as CEO of Brentwood, Tenn.- based Quorum Health, Joey Jacobs stepped down, according to a Sept. 4 company announcement. Mr. Jacobs was appointed CEO of the struggling company in July, just as it was emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Quorum, a spinoff of Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Sys- tems, filed for bankruptcy in early April and entered into an agree- ment to reduce its debt load by about $500 million. The hospital emerged from bankruptcy July 7. "As we continue to focus on how best to position Quorum Health for long-term growth following the success of its recent financial re- structuring, the board and Joey together have determined that it is in the best interest of the company to move forward with a different leader," said Catherine Klema, chair of Quorum's board. "We appre- ciate the contributions that Joey has made to Quorum." Dan Slipkovich, who also sits on Quorum's board, has been named interim CEO. Mr. Slipkovich has 38 years of healthcare experience and is the founder of Franklin, Tenn.-based Capella Healthcare, which operates 10 acute care and specialty hospital facilities in five states. He has also held several executive leadership roles at Renton, Wash.-based Providence; LifePoint Health in Brentwood, Tenn.; and Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare. n

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