Becker's Hospital Review

58 CIO / HEALTH IT DOJ will take firm stance against 'killer acquisitions': 5 things to know By Jackie Drees T he Justice Department will not back down from enforcing antitrust laws against so-called "killer acquisitions," where dominant companies purchase start- ups before they can become competitive threats, according to Justice Department As- sociate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. Five things to know: 1. Acquisitions of young competitors "are one category of particularly concerning transac- tions because they undermine competition that can disrupt monopolies," Ms. Gupta said at the Georgetown Law Global Antitrust Enforcement Symposium on Sept. 14, according to CNBC. 2. Ms. Gupta said the department "will not shy away" from challenging acquisitions such as Visa's, in which the company tried to ac- quire payments startup Plaid. Visa ultimately abandoned the merger aer the government's efforts to block it. 3. While Ms. Gupta said the Justice Department will be careful not to deter investments in new startups, it will ensure these nascent companies have a competitive economy so that dominant digital players cannot thwart competition. 4. Digital health has seen an explosion of funding and mergers and acquisitions activ- ity so far this year; startups in the industry raised $14.7 billion in the first six months of 2021, meaning the sector already has surpassed the $14.6 billion it raised in all of 2020, according to digital health venture fund Rock Health. 5. Nearly 50 mega deals, transactions worth $100 million or more, accounted for 59 percent of digital health's total fund- ing in the first half of 2021, according to Rock Health. n Travel nurses quit California hospital after 1 day over EHR By Jackie Drees F our traveling nurses quit their assignments at Prov- idence St. Joseph Hospital just one day after start- ing because they were unfamiliar with the Eureka, Calif.-based hospital's EHR system, the Times Standard reported Sept. 4. Providence brought on six intensive care unit nurses, with four of the nurses quitting one day after their assignments began, the hospital said in a Sept. 1 media statement. Providence St. Joseph Hospital CEO Roberta Luskin-Hawk, MD, said the nurses' departure was "an unfortunate and unique circumstance," and attributed their leaving to on- boarding training challenges and the nurses' lack of famil- iarity with the hospital's EHR. "The primary reason was that they were not familiar with our electronic medical record system — a system that is used by many hospitals," Dr. Luski-Hawk said. "Additionally, there were issues with the onboarding of these caregivers which created a challenge for them acclimating to our hospital." The four nurses who quit claimed they did not receive ac- cess to the hospital's electronic charting system, a California Nurses Association spokesperson told the publication. "The travelers were met without necessary resources, in- cluding access to the unit's electronic charting system and were immediately handed full patient assignments with lit- tle in the way of orientation," the spokesperson said. "So, four out of the six [travel nurses] quit. In the words of one of them, the travelers were 'thrown to the wolves' and with all the opportunities available to travelers these days, they just didn't come back." n How the pandemic changed the CIO role: 5 insights By Hannah Mitchell C IOs' responsibilities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased with the pay to match, as the average annual salary hit $260,000, accord- ing to a Sept. 20 report by The Wall Street Journal. Five insights: 1. CIOs are reconfiguring supply chains, speeding up automation in AI factories, moving healthcare services online through telehealth and have worked to avoid creating vulnerabilities hackers can exploit. 2. CIOs and IT leaders are taking on greater positions of leadership. They are being named to corporate boards and adding vice president to their title, according to the report. Since tech is part of a company's overall strategy, the topic is coming up in board discussions all the time, Chuck Gray, head of U.S. Technology Officers Practice at consulting firm Egon Zehnder, told the Journal. 3. In 2022, the average annual CIO salary is projected to be $260,000, an increase of 2.7 percent from 2021 after it rose 0.5 percent from 2020, according to the report. For comparison, CFO salaries are projected to rise to $242,00, up 0.3 percent from 2021. 4. CIOs are also overseeing massive IT budgets. World- wide enterprise IT spending is projected to reach $4.2 trillion in 2021, up 8.6 percent from 2020. 5. IT executives are sprinting to keep pace with digital expectations from patients and consumers. Tech initia- tives are in the fast lane and CIOs are needing to hire thousands of tech experts to keep pace. n

• Cover