Becker's Hospital Review

35 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP 35 CEO / STRATEGY e priority levels are just a framework to help deploy vaccine, but we must remember that in the end we want to offer vaccine to everyone. Every vaccine delivered has an opportunity to help us fight the pandemic. Jake Henry Jr. President and CEO of Saint Francis Health System (Tulsa, Okla.): Stay true to your brand. Consistency and predict- ability are two themes that are hardwired into how our team approaches operations, and consequently, it is what our patients expect from us. For vaccine distribution, we knew we needed to deliver a patient experience that lived up to our brand expectations. To do so, we had to get the details right. Little did we know that two seemingly obvious details would end up being critical to our success. First, ensuring we had a second dose for ev- eryone who received a first dose. Second, maintaining a pool of patients ready to re- ceive the vaccine that equaled the number of doses available. With great attention to detail and process, our team was able to cre- ate a COVID-19 vaccination site that func- tions with the ease, consistency and pre- dictability that our patients expect from us and our brand. Bruce Meyer, MD. President of Jefferson Health and Senior Executive Vice President of omas Jefferson University (Philadel- phia): One of the best pieces of vaccination advice I heard recently is, "It's not every day you get to end a pandemic." Multiple factors will help determine when enough Americans will be protected from COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity. First, when will there be sufficient vaccine produced and distributed so everyone can re- ceive their dose(s)? is includes vaccinating those who may have immune protection from actual infections but are vaccinated anyway to increase durable protection. Our weekly vaccine shipments have been less than antic- ipated, and we eagerly await the expansion of supply from the federal government so that we can move on to additional phases of patient vaccination. Second, will enough people agree to be vacci- nated? We know that many people, and espe- cially our underrepresented minority commu- nity, are more skeptical about vaccination, and we can all become educated and inform our friends, family and communities about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. ird, will new variants of the virus be responsive to the immune response from the vaccines, and can we get enough people vaccinated before more new variants develop? Finally, what is the durability of vaccine-in- duced protection? Will we need booster shots or even annual ones? is will only become known over time, but does not stop our efforts to slow and cease continued transmission of COVID. Each of these factors play a role in ending the pandemic. I am hopeful, when considering all factors, that it will be late summer or early fall when we get to sufficient protection. But we all realize that hope is not a strategy. So, it will take our best efforts to help stop this deadly virus. n Hoag Memorial Hospital officials allege retaliation after filing lawsuit to end affiliation with Providence By Alia Paavola A fter filing a lawsuit in May to end its affiliation with Renton, Wash.-based Providence, Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, Calif., is alleging it is the target of retaliation, according to a Feb. 19 article in the Los Angeles Times. Hoag Memorial said that Providence removed Hoag Me- morial's three facilities from its website of Southern Califor- nia locations and terminated Hoag Memorial's specialists from St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, a network of med- ical providers for managed care plans in Southern Cali- fornia. Additionally, Hoag Memorial said that Providence informed Heritage members they would lose access to Hoag's 13 urgent care centers by Dec. 31. According to the report, Providence's notice to patients that Hoag facilities and physicians would be dropped from its network all came in the fall of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "It was the most inappropriate, inexplicable and harsh thing to do to a lot of patients," Hoag President and CEO Robert Braithwaite told the Los Angeles Times. "Finding a new physician or new specialist is particularly hard on se- niors and any patient who has a chronic condition and has established a long-term relationship with an endocrinolo- gist or rheumatologist or cancer doctor." Providence told the Los Angeles Times it disagrees that patients have been disadvantaged. "We are committed to the well-being of our communities and to serving patients with high quality and compas- sionate care," a Providence spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times. Hoag Memorial has been affiliated with Providence, a Catholic health system, since 2016. Hoag Memorial said the changes all came after the hos- pital sought to end its affiliation with Providence by filing a lawsuit. Hoag Memorial said in its lawsuit it is seeking to end the affiliation because Providence is undermining local decision-making and Catholic Church restrictions are expanding. Providence has fought Hoag's lawsuit to end the affiliation. The health system claims Hoag doesn't have the right to unilaterally dissolve the affiliation, and its board members don't have the authority to file the lawsuit. An Orange County Superior Court judge rejected Providence's argu- ment Feb. 1. Providence has appealed the decision. California's attorney general Xavier Becerra is investigating Providence over allegations that it inappropriately applied religious care restrictions at Hoag, the Times reported March 3. n

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