Becker's Hospital Review

20 POPULATION HEALTH 20 CEO / STRATEGY Glassdoor: Best places to work in healthcare for 2021 By Ayla Ellison G lassdoor released its list of "Best Plac- es to Work" in 2021, and 18 hospitals, health systems and healthcare com- panies made the list. Six hospitals and health systems were named on the list of 100 companies, with Emanate Health ranking above the other five. e rankings are based on the input of employees, who voluntarily complete a review of their job, work environment and employer over the past year. Here are the hospitals, health systems and healthcare companies that made Glassdoor's annual list, with their accompanying ranking: 14. Stryker (Kalamazoo, Mich.) 19. Emanate Health (Covina, Calif.) 24. Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, N.J.) 39. Pfizer (New York City) 40. CoverMyMeds (Columbus, Ohio) 41. Intuitive (Sunnyvale, Calif.) 42. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City) 47. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, Tenn.) 61. Merck (Kenilworth, N.J.) 65. Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) 69. CHG Healthcare (Midvale, Utah) 74. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) 75. Health Catalyst (Salt Lake City) 78. Bristol Myers Squibb (New York City) 87. Eli Lilly and Co. (Indianapolis) 90. MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) 98. Novartis (Cambridge, Mass.) 99. Trilogy Health Services (Louisville, Ky.) n Hospitals questioned for including board members in 1st rounds of COVID-19 vaccines By Morgan Haefner I n some instances, hospital board members and trust- ees have received the COVID-19 vaccine alongside front-line workers, raising questions about whether some systems are following guidelines for distribution. While guidelines vary by state, the CDC recommends that high-risk healthcare workers and first responders be the first to get the vaccine. The federal government changed its national vaccine distribution strategy Jan. 12, expand- ing eligibility to everyone 65 years old and above, as well people under age 65 with a comorbidity. Given these guidelines, some hospitals have faced ques- tions about why board members who appear to not fit the guidelines have been offered the COVID-19 vaccine. The Free Lance-Star considered the issue after readers saw trustees of the Fredericksburg, Va.-based Mary Washing- ton Hospital Foundation post photos on Facebook of them receiving the vaccine. The posts were later removed, the newspaper said in a Jan. 12 report. Eric Fletcher, senior vice president of Mary Washington Healthcare, told The Free Lance-Star, "Our board mem- bers are volunteers, and so they have been invited, and some of them have been vaccinated, as volunteers of the health system." The Virginia Department of Health told the publication many hospitals chose to vaccinate their "nonhealth system staff as well" when vaccines starting in mid-December. Middletown, N.Y.-based Garnet Health also offered its board members the COVID-19 vaccine, which prompted a state probe, according to a Jan. 13 report in the Times Her- ald-Record. A spokesperson from Garnet confirmed with the newspaper that the system made the vaccine available to its 16 board directors and the 25-member board of its health foundation. "Board members are volunteers and were offered vac- cinations the same as all volunteers who work at Garnet Health as part of the low-risk worker group at hospitals which is approved by the Department of Health," hospital spokesperson Rob Lee told the Times Herald-Record. "We were authorized to vaccinate high-, medium- and low-risk groups in our health system and to get vaccines in arms and that's exactly what we did," he added. Some of the board members vaccinated were clinicians. Officials from the New York State Department of Health disputed notions that board members were eligible for the vaccine because of their volunteer status, according to the report. A spokesperson from the department told the Times Her- ald-Record, "We are actively investigating this situation and will take whatever action is warranted." n

• Cover