Becker's Hospital Review

20 POPULATION HEALTH 20 CEO / STRATEGY Physicians target Palomar Health leadership in vote of no confidence By Kelly Gooch P hysicians at Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Health voted "no confidence" in leadership aer the health system revealed plans to switch contracted medical groups, e San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Palomar announced June 21 that it had struck an agree- ment on a three-year contract with emergency care pro- vider Emergent Medical Associates and another medical group, Benchmark, to provide emergency physicians, hos- pitalists, intensivists and related support personnel for its hospitals in Escondido and Poway, Calif. Emergent Medical Associates would replace Vituity, a med- ical group based in Emeryville, Calif. Vituity has provided intensivists for the last six years, hospitalists for eight years and emergency physicians for more than four decades. But physicians have objected to the pending choice of medical groups, with the medical executive committees at each hospital taking votes of "no confidence" June 22, according to the report. ose objecting to Palomar's deci- sion cited lack of transparency related to the switch, as well concerns that workloads will increase. Michelle Faierman, MD, an internal medicine specialist and hospitalist, told the Union-Tribune she knows there will be unsustainable workloads and that nurse prac- titioners and physician assistants will be heavily relied upon to cover for fewer physicians rounding on hospi- talized patients. In a statement to the newspaper, Palomar said Emergent Medical Associates and Benchmark have vowed to keep staffing levels "as they are now for at least 90 days" while conducting "a full analysis of patient care." Several physicians told the Union-Tribune they felt the process to select Emergent Medical Associates and Benchmark was rushed and that contract negotiations weren't transparent. In its statement to the newspaper, Palomar disputed that it has not been transparent with the contract-bidding process. Palomar Health President and CEO Diane Hansen said Emergent Medical Associates was chosen because it is "most aligned with Palomar Health's strategic goals." "Our community and patients expect us to be good stew- ards of our resources," Ms. Hansen said. "EMA's proposal allows us to retain all our staff, plus reinvest saved resourc- es to upgrade patient care." e new contracts with Emergent Medical Associates and Benchmark took effect in August. n The biggest challenge facing today's healthcare CEOs? Talent By Molly Gamble N early 80 percent of healthcare chiefs expect very strong or strong growth over the next 12 months, but face the greatest challenges managing talent, according to a Fortune/Deloitte poll. Fortune/Deloitte polled 110 CEOs across more than 15 indus- tries for its summer 2021 CEO survey. Of the healthcare chiefs, 22 percent expect very strong and 56 expect strong growth through summer 2022. When asked about their biggest challenge, CEOs pointed to tal- ent above all others. "Attracting, hiring, retaining, developing, growing, and engaging talent; succession planning; the war for talent; and more constituted one out of every four responses," according to the survey summary. Across industries, CEOs were split on the question of whether the business effects of the pandemic will largely be over by the end of 2021: 53 percent said yes and 47 percent said no. Technology modernization, artificial intelligence and sustainability are slated to see the greatest increase in spending throughout the next 12 months, according to CEOs' input. Notably, more than half of CEOs expect a pronounced decrease in real estate spending. n Amazon Care approached big health insurers to expand coverage By Alia Paavola A mazon Care, the e-commerce giant's new healthcare ven- ture, has approached several big health insurers in an ef- fort to expand coverage of its services, Insider reported July 7. The healthcare venture reportedly talked to Aetna, Premera Blue Cross, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, according to people familiar with the discussions. Securing health insurance coverage or joining an insurer's net- work would be a big step for Amazon Care, as it would allow the company to expand services to more companies and patients. It would allow insured people to use Amazon Care as they would any other in-network provider. Currently, Amazon Care works with employers that pay a monthly fee for each employee to have access to the services, including Amazon itself, Peloton-owned Precor and several others. Amazon launched Amazon Care, which offers telemedicine and in-person primary care services, as a pilot program in 2019. The program initially was only available to Amazon's Seattle employ- ees and their dependents, but Amazon later expanded it to all employees in Washington state. In March, the e-commerce gi- ant said it plans to expand Amazon Care nationwide and to other employers. n

• Cover