Becker's Hospital Review

28 POPULATION HEALTH 28 CEO / STRATEGY Union takes aim at HCA exec compensation in ad campaign By Alia Paavola S ervice Employees International Union, which represents more than 1 million healthcare workers, is taking aim at Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare for what it calls runaway executive competition in an advertising blitz. e advertisements include direct mail to residents and a television commercial that talks about executive compensation versus worker compensation. e campaign fo- cuses on the compensation of HCA CEO Sam Hazen, who received $30 million in his second year at the helm. According to the union, Mr. Hazen earns more than 1,000 times the yearly pay of tens of thousands of front-line HCA workers. SEIU healthcare workers started the cam- paign aer HCA's annual shareholder meet- ing, in which shareholders voted against a measure to explore increasing the role qual- ity metrics play in executive compensation. An HCA spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review that the union's advertising campaign is based on misleading and inaccurate infor- mation, and was launched in part due to the company's decision not to renew a labor neu- trality agreement with SEIU. "e campaign being orchestrated by SEIU is based on misleading and inaccurate in- formation, but most disheartening is the lack of respect and compassion this labor union is demonstrating toward our nurses and colleagues who show up every day to care for others," an HCA spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review. "Last year, HCA Healthcare made the decision not to renew a labor neutrality agreement with the Ser- vice Employees International Union (SEIU) that gave them the freedom to organize multiple hospitals without the voice of the organization being heard." n Warren Buffett on failed Haven venture: 'The tapeworm won' By Morgan Haefner W arren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told shareholders his company's failed healthcare venture with JPMorgan Chase and Amazon could not overcome the high cost of care in the U.S., according to Yahoo Finance. "We learned a lot about the difficulty of changing around an industry that's 17 percent of GDP," Mr. Buffett said during the May 1 annual shareholders meeting in a discussion with business partner Char- lie Munger. "We were fighting a tapeworm in the American economy, and the tapeworm won." Mr. Buffett has used the analogy of the American healthcare system being a "tapeworm" in the U.S. economy before. When the Haven venture launched in 2018, Mr. Buffett said its ultimate goal was to re- duce the "tapeworm of costs" plaguing the industry. Although Haven dissolved in February, Mr. Buffett said he didn't see the venture as a total loss. Focus- ing on healthcare costs helped his company identi- fy inefficiencies and save money internally, he said during the meeting, according to Yahoo Finance. During the meeting, it was also revealed that Greg Abel, vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway, will eventual- ly succeed Mr. Buffett, according to CNBC. n CEOs die earlier because of stress, study finds By Morgan Haefner S tress from working long hours and making high-stakes decisions translates to a shorter life and faster aging for CEOs, according to a National Bureau of Economic Re- search working paper. In the March study, researchers focused on wealthy CEOs of large publicly traded companies that were largely isolated from health effects related to finances. Study authors analyzed the birth and death dates of 1,605 CEOs of the large firms, and used machine-learning tools to assess visible aging using a sample of 3,086 photos of the 2006 Fortune 500 CEOs over the course of their tenure. When CEOs were under significant stress, like during an eco- nomic downturn, it shaved 18 months off their lifespan, the researchers found. Conversely, their lifespan increased by two years when they were insulated from market pressures. Analysis of pictures showed that exposure to a significant event like the Great Recession increased CEOs' visible age by a year over the next decade, according to the research. "Stricter corporate governance regimes — which are general- ly viewed as desirable and welfare-improving — and financial distress impose significant personal health costs to CEOs," the researchers concluded. "While we lack direct physical or medical measures of heightened stress, the evidence implies that stricter governance and economic downturns constitutes a substantial personal cost for CEOs in terms of their health and life expectancy." n

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