Becker's Hospital Review

53 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP Be proactive about data: How a Michigan hospital's cardiovascular department approaches value-based care By Erica Carbajal I n the journey to cost-containment and value-based care within cardiology, data is key, said Amber Pawlikowski, MSN, RN, cardiovascular quality excellence leader at Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Saint Joseph Mercy Health System. Ms. Pawlikowski joined the Becker's Health- care cardiology podcast to discuss how the health system's cardiovascular service line uses data to inform the shi to value-based care. Here is an excerpt from the podcast, lightly edited for length and clarity. Question: Thinking about cost-con- tainment and value-based care, what things are you already implementing or planning in the near future? Amber Pawlikowski: I think one of the big- gest things is that we try to use data in every single decision that we make. Whether we're looking at volumes, quality outcomes, pay- ment modeling, and things like that — really using that data. Where we get a lot of good data — there's something called the Michigan Value Collab- orative that helps you to kind of benchmark yourself against other hospitals in your region or in your state in terms of risk-adjusted cost per case analysis — and something like that is really helpful for us. I think one thing that's difficult to do is if you don't have that benchmark data, you kind of know how you're performing against yourself year over year, but what does that mean in terms of the bigger picture? Unfortunately, if you're waiting as a healthcare system for the Medicare data to come out, you're already kind of behind the eight ball when you're getting that data back. So I think being proactive about data collec- tion, and then ensuring that you sort of have programs where you can benchmark your- selves against other hospital systems. at's something that we're constantly striving to do. And again, examining that information … and certainly if we see outliers and things like that, we would call together committees or leverage existing teams to ensure that we're discussing that data. n 10 stats that show gender pay gap in healthcare By Hannah Mitchell T he gender pay gap plagues women in the U.S., and the healthcare industry is no exception. Here are 10 numbers that illustrate the gender pay gap: 1. In 2020, the gender pay gap widened from 25.2 percent in 2019 to 28 percent, with female physicians earning on average $116,289 less than men annually, according to a Doximity report that analyzed 44,000 physician salaries. 2. The gaps varied by specialty, where the widest pay gaps were for orthopedic surgery (an average pay gap of $122,677) and otolaryngology (an average pay gap of $108,905). 3. There were zero specialties where women and men were paid the same, or women made more than men. The smallest pay gaps were for nuclear medicine (an aver- age pay gap of $9,255) and hematology (an average pay gap of $35,673). 4. Female department chairs at public medical schools earned on average $70,000 to $80,000 less per year than men, a 2020 study published in JAMA Network Open found. 5. Women who have held their chair positions for more than a decade earned $127,411 less than their male peers annually. 6. In Maryland, male physicians earn $335,000 per year on average, compared to $224,000 for women — a difference nearing 50 percent, according to a 2018 study of 508 physicians by the Maryland State Medical Society. 7. Gender pay gaps start at women's first job and follow them through their careers. The mean starting salary for male residents is about $17,000 higher than for their fe- male counterparts, according to a 2018 study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. 8. In 2021, women earned 84 cents for each $1 their male counterparts earned, according to a Pew Research report. That means women had to work an additional 42 days in a year to pull in the same amount of money as men did. 9. Some women's hospital leadership careers fizzle out ear- ly on. A larger percent of men report being given clear ex- pectations for success in their roles than women. Men are 13 percent more likely to receive leadership skills train- ing than women and are 22 percent more likely to be as- signed a formal mentor, according to a leadership transition report by Development Dimensions International. 10. Women are 19 percent less likely to be formally assessed than men. Additionally, women report higher levels of stress in the transition process. n

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