Becker's Hospital Review

20 POPULATION HEALTH 20 CEO / STRATEGY Prove it, hospital asks unvaccinated employees claiming religious exemption By Kelly Gooch A n attestation form from Conway (Ark.) Regional Health System asks employees requesting a religious exemption from the hospital's COVID-19 vaccine mandate to confirm they will not use certain everyday medications, such as Benad- ryl, Sudafed and Tylenol, in alignment with their sincerely held religious belief. On Aug. 12, Conway Regional, which in- cludes Conway Regional Medical Center, announced its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees, with accommodations for medical and religious exemptions. e hos- pital said employees requesting a medical and/or religious exemption must complete an exemption request form, and its COVID-19 vaccine exemption request policy is similar to the one it has for the flu vaccine. Matt Troup, president and CEO of Conway Regional Health System, told Becker's that hospital officials began receiving exemption requests for the COVID-19 vaccine and not- ed an increase in requests citing the use of fe- tal cell lines to develop and test the vaccines. "is was significantly disproportionate to what we've seen with the influenza vaccine. us, we provided a religious attestation form for those individuals requesting a religious ex- emption," he said. "e intent of the religious attestation form is twofold: to ensure staff re- questing exemption are sincere in their beliefs and to educate staff who might have requested an exemption without understanding the full scope of how fetal cells are used in testing and development in common medicines." Conway Regional said the form also aims to notify employees of the requirements for compliance for an exemption, including signing the attestation form confirming their sincerely held belief, being subject to period- ic COVID-19 testing, and possible reassign- ment to another position to mitigate risk for patients and staff. e form lists 30 medications and asks em- ployees to "truthfully acknowledge and affirm that my sincerely held religious belief is consis- tent and true and I do not use or will use any of the medications listed as examples or any other medication … that has used fetal cell lines in their development and/or testing." Few religions outright reject vaccinations, but some religious groups have raised the issue of vaccines being developed and tested on fetal cell lines, which are grown in labs based on abort- ed fetal cells, according to 9News, which spoke with an infectious disease expert at the Univer- sity of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. "I understand why people have concerns," James Lawler, MD, the expert, who is a prac- ticing Catholic, told the news station. "e bottom line is almost all the medical products we use have in some way been touched by re- search that's been done on fetal cell lines." Mr. Troup said the purpose of the form is to be educational and "provide information on other commonly used medications that may go against a sincerely held religious belief." If someone declines to sign the form, he said their religious exemption is approved on a provisional basis, and the employee may be asked to sign the form at a later date. He said several employees seeking a religious exemption have signed the attestation, but for those who do not, Conway Regional deems that, amid the circumstances of the pandem- ic, it is not able to accommodate some ex- emption requests in the future. "Part of our intent in granting a provisional exemption is to let staff know that we may not be able to extend this provisional status in- definitely. Any steps taken will be consistent with [Equal Employment Opportunity Com- mission] guidelines," said Mr. Troup. Conway Regional's vaccine requirement deadline for employees was Oct. 8. e health system has about 1,830 employees, and as of Sept. 14, about 5 percent had requested a reli- gious or medical exemption. n Tenet's new CEO gets pay raise: 6 things to know By Ayla Ellison S aum Sutaria, MD, became Tenet Healthcare's new CEO on Sept. 1. He will receive higher total compensation as CEO than he did during the years he served as the Dallas-based company's COO. Six things to know: 1. Dr. Sutaria, who began serving as Tenet's COO in 2019, received a base salary of $1 million in 2020. In his new role, Dr. Sutaria's salary will be $1.2 million, according to a Sept. 3 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 2. As CEO, Dr. Sutaria will be eligible to receive an annual incentive bonus of at least 125 percent of his base salary. 3. Dr. Sutaria will receive annual equity awards beginning in fiscal year 2022. 4. Dr. Sutaria is succeeding Ronald Rittenmeyer as CEO of Tenet. Mr. Rittenmeyer will serve as executive chair of Tenet and the board through the end of 2022 and as an adviser to the board and the company's CEO from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2024. 5. From Sept. 1, 2021, through the end of 2022, Mr. Ritten- meyer will receive a base salary of $1.5 million and will be eligible to receive an annual bonus of at least 150 percent of his base salary. From Jan. 1, 2023, through the end of 2024, he will receive an annual retainer of $750,000. 6. Mr. Rittenmeyer will be eligible for a $5 million retention bonus Dec. 31, 2024, if he continues to be employed by the company until that time. n

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