Becker's Hospital Review

26 POPULATION HEALTH 26 CEO / STRATEGY Why RWJBarnabas fired 4 New Jersey hospital execs By Kelly Gooch T he pace of developing clinical program- ming and academics was behind the firing of the CEO and three top adminis- trators at Livingston, N.J.-based Saint Barnabas Medical Center, the head of the hospital's parent company told NJ Advance Media Sept. 30. RWJBarnabas Health, a West Orange, N.J.- based system with 35,000 employees, dis- closed Sept. 7 hospital leadership team changes at Saint Barnabas, including the departures of Saint Barnabas President and CEO Stephen Zieniewicz, COO Patrick Haughey, Chief Nursing Officer Margaret Lundberg-Cook, RN, and Vice President of Ambulatory Services Céu Cirne-Neves. e system also announced that Richard "Rick" Davis, who was promoted to CFO of the health system's Northern region in 2019, was named president and CEO of Saint Barn- abas. Jennifer O'Neill, DNP, who has served as senior vice president, chief nurse executive and COO at New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery's main campus the last two years, was named COO of Saint Barnabas. In a statement shared with Becker's at the time, RWJBarnabas Health said: "Several leadership transitions were made ... at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Although the facil- ity is already incredibly strong both clinically and financially, these strategic moves will bet- ter position the medical center for even great- er success in the future. e organization is very grateful for the contributions of the prior leadership team and wishes them well." Now, Barry Ostrowsky, president and CEO of RWJBarnabas, has expanded on the rea- soning behind the departures in an interview with NJ Advance Media. He told the publication the medical center wasn't progressing fast enough in critical areas. "is was really about the medical center moving in a direction, in a way, and at a pace, that I think we can do," Mr. Ostrowsky said. "And we needed a new management team to do that. ere was nothing untoward. ere was no scandal." "It hurts to have to do that," he added. Mr. Ostrowsky also told NJ Advance Me- dia he wanted Saint Barnabas to accelerate development of clinical programming and academics, and that the medical center has the leadership team in place to do that. Ms. Cirne-Neves declined to comment when reached by the publication, and its attempts to reach the other three leaders who le were not successful. n Cleveland Clinic develops exec program to break free of 'autopilot' leadership By Hannah Mitchell C leveland Clinic and consulting firm Korn Ferry are collaborating to offer healthcare leadership development programs to drive innovation, empathic leadership and more. Three things to know: 1. The program will focus on training health- care leaders and physician leaders to challenge their organizations to change up their thinking, according to a Sept. 20 news release. The pro- gram's goal is to increase retention, engage- ment and innovation through a supportive and strong organizational culture. 2. The program will be taught by leaders from Cleveland Clinic and Korn Ferry, and each cohort will run for three to four months. The fast-paced program will help to bring innovation implementa- tion to be adopted faster at hospitals. Participants will receive continuing medical education credits for participating in the program. 3. After completing the program, participants will be able to break out of "autopilot" leadership re- sponses, use empathy to connect with others, an- ticipate future challenges and more, the release said. n Walmart Health shakes up leadership amid clinic rollout By Hannah Mitchell W almart Health is reorganizing its top leadership as the re- tail giant focuses on its healthcare push, according to a Sept. 13 Insider report. Six things to know: 1. Lori Flees, senior vice president and COO of Walmart's health and wellness division, is no longer COO and is moving outside Walmart's healthcare division, Insider reported. She began her role in August 2020. 2. Marcus Osborne, senior vice president of Walmart Health, is no longer overseeing the company's clinics, according to the report. Mr. Osborne is moving into a new role in health and wellness strat- egy and innovation. 3. "We are focused on leveraging our strengths, delivering best in class healthcare and positioning leaders to help accelerate our strat- egy to be an integrated, omnichannel health delivery organization," a Walmart spokesperson told Insider. 4. Walmart operates 20 medical clinics in Arkansas, Georgia and Illi- nois. It has filed to open seven clinics in Florida. 5. The rollout of its clinics has slowed, brought on by several lead- er departures, the complexity of the healthcare industry and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report. In April, Insider re- ported that eight leaders involved in Walmart's health strategy had departed and another was on his way out. 6. The retail giant is strategizing its telehealth push. On May 6, it said it was in a definitive agreement to acquire telehealth company MeMD. Walmart has been filing to launch telehealth in 37 states. n

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