Becker's Hospital Review

38 POPULATION HEALTH 38 CEO / STRATEGY Shift in leadership at Adventist Health marks start of transformative path forward, CEO says By Kelly Gooch R oseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health has shied leadership, created three di- visions and participated in acquisitions and partnerships to align with its 10-year strat- egy. e strategy is all about the 20-plus hospital organization moving away from a solely hospi- tal/health system-centric focus and becoming a health company, CEO Scott Reiner, RN, said. "is is the idea of moving from whole per- son — physical, mental, spiritual, social care of an individual — to individual and community well-being," Mr. Reiner explained in an in- terview with Becker's Hospital Review. "We're excited about this work. It's going to be very transformative. It's going to take new kinds of jobs. It's going to take new kinds of talent. It's going to take very innovative leaders." Adventist Health began discussions about its 2030 strategy in January and initiated first steps in March. Among those steps was creating three di- visions to replace the previous regionally defined model with a divisional structure. Instead of four regions in California, Hawaii, Washington state and Oregon, the organiza- tion is divided into care, well-being and man- aged health divisions. Led by Andrew Jahn, former regional pres- ident of Adventist Health in Southern Cali- fornia, the care division operates Adventist Health's care delivery footprint, including its hospitals and clinics in more than 80 com- munities, said Mr. Reiner. e well-being division focuses on efforts such as the orga- nization's community work for improving social determinants of health, and the health management division leads the organization's focus on population health to drive value for patients, employers and payers. As part of its 10-year strategy, Adventist Health also reorganized leadership functions to align with the new divisional structure. For example, the chief clinical officer role was modified to a chief health officer role. Hoda Asmar, MD, former chief clinical officer, le in July aer the role changed, said Mr. Reiner. A chief health officer has not been appoint- ed, but Mr. Reiner said whoever is appoint- ed chief health officer will be responsible for integrating all aspects of care, well-being and payer strategies in the organization. Mark Ashlock, former president of physician services, Adventist Health, le his role in June, and Wayne Ferch, president of Adven- tist Health's Central California region, retired amid the leadership shi. It's "all part of our design to put a different formatted team in place for the new strategy," said Mr. Reiner. Acquisitions and partnerships are also part of Adventist Health's strategy. e organization acquired Blue Zones, a company that aims to help communities better manage people's health, in April. It also invested in behavior- al health technology company Synchronous Health to increase patient and employee access to behavioral health and well-being services. "You certainly hear the significant amount of anxiety and depression related to the last six months, so we notice that with our patient family," Mr. Reiner said of the Synchronous Health investment. at's why Adventist Health is investing in "the company where we'll be able to deliver a more sophisticated digital platform format for people working with anxiety and depression screening and treatment," Mr. Reiner said. Adventist Health also began admitting up to 150 patients to its first virtual hospital, Adven- tist Health Hospital@Home, in May. e pro- gram uses virtual tech to treat patients in their homes. Its initial California service areas include Bakersfield, Clear Lake, Glendale, Hanford, Los Angeles, Mendocino County and Simi Valley. Mr. Reiner said there's been a good response from patients, and the organization aims to treat about 25 conditions safely and effective- ly through the program. n South Carolina hospital defends nonrenewal of CEO's contract By Morgan Haefner B oard members of the Regional Medical Center in Or- angeburg, S.C., followed the law when they decided to not renew the hospital CEO's contract, according to The Times and Democrat. The board voted Aug. 6 to not renew the contract of Re- gional Medical Center's President and CEO Charles Wil- liams. Mr. Williams joined the Regional Medical Center in December 2018 and will remain CEO until Dec. 10, when his contract is set to end. After the board's decision became public, community mem- bers and physicians requested more information into the reasoning behind it. The Orangeburg County Council, which appoints members to the hospital's board, felt they were kept in the dark about board members' plans to not renew Mr. Wil- liams' contract, according to The Times and Democrat. In an Aug. 17 letter to the Regional Medical Center's trust- ees, the county council asked board members for docu- mentation about the Aug. 6 meeting and whether it com- plied with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act. The Rev. Caesar Richburg, chair of the board, said the Aug. 6 meeting complied with state laws and historical practice, according to The Times and Democrat. "Ultimately, the board decided that the challenges ahead for RMC required a careful strategic plan and new leader- ship," Dr. Richburg said, according to the newspaper. "The board has been charged with ensuring that RMC stands the test of time. The board's dedication to this is unwaver- ing, even when it must make difficult decisions." n

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