Becker's Hospital Review

25 CEO / STRATEGY Billings Clinic CEO resigns By Kelly Gooch S cott Ellner, DO, resigned as CEO of Billings (Mont.) Clinic, according to an Aug. 26 news release shared with Becker's. The Billings Clinic board of directors accepted Dr. Ellner's resignation and appointed Clint Seger, MD, interim CEO. "I am honored to have worked with an incredible group of caregivers and physicians dedicated to providing better healthcare to our communities in Montana and Wyoming," Dr. Ellner said in his resignation letter, according to the release. He added that he will pursue his "passion for re-imagining the delivery of healthcare." Keith Cook, chair of the Billings Clinic board of directors, said in the release, "We've been through an extraordinary period since Dr. Ellner joined Billings Clinic … It has been a period that none of us could have envisioned. We wish Dr. Ellner well and we are looking ahead to a great future. "This is a strong and committed organization, built on people of extraordinary character and capabilities, dedicated to serving our patients and communities with outstanding care and service," Mr. Cook continued. "We are moving forward to establish Billings Clinic as a level one trauma center. I'm so proud of the people who make up the Billings Clinic." Dr. Ellner became CEO of Billings Clinic in January 2020. Before that, he served as group president and CEO of Centura Health Physician Group, a network of medical providers in Colorado and western Kansas. Dr. Seger, a family medicine physician, joined Billings Clinic 14 years ago and has served as regional chief medical officer for the past eight years. n Mr. Sadlier noted that this trend can have significant effects in the industry. "Any lack of engagement on the part of staff ultimately impacts patient care, teamwork, safety and throughput, all of which impact the financial health of an organization and the patient experience. It's incredibly important for leaders to focus on engagement, growth opportunities, and to recognize and reward hard work. ese are a few ways to focus on your employees to help them feel engaged with their work," he said. Still, quiet quitting doesn't look significantly different in healthcare than it does in other industries, according to Mr. Sadlier. "Colleagues in other industries like hospitality and retail, for example, all talk about a lack of willingness among workers to pick up extra shis, or work beyond the bare minimum requirements. at's a sign of growing disengagement and may be quiet quitting," he said. It is greatly concerning that, while the motivation may not be largely different than in other industries, the effects of quiet quitting in healthcare have a direct connection to patient care, quality and safety, according to Mr. Sadlier. He also said lower patient experience scores may indicate that a hospital is experiencing decreased employee engagement, which can spread among all its staff. "ere's an absolute hierarchy [in healthcare], and it doesn't require somebody to work in healthcare to recognize that when physician engagement falters, that impacts nurses, and when nurses don't feel engaged, that impacts the rest of the staff, whether it's ancillary staff, support services," he said. "ere's a trickledown effect to a lack of engagement at any part of the organization. Inevitably that impacts every position and is ultimately felt by those we serve." Additionally, he pointed to financial struggles at U.S. hospitals as a contributing factor for workloads increasing. On Aug. 29, Kaufman Hall released a new report that showed hospitals are experiencing some of the worst margins since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. is means some organizations have had to implement layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. "Cost-cutting measures are becoming harder to accomplish without having a direct effect on the care patients receive. When [full-time equivalents] are affected, in many cases the responsibilities are shied to other members of the team. e additional responsibilities can lead to frustration and burnout and negatively impact employee engagement. ese factors are what then lead to quiet quitting," Mr. Sadlier said. To avoid quiet quitting or disengagement, he recommends that hospitals provide open and honest communication, set and maintain realistic work expectations, closely monitor employee engagement, recognize and reward high performance through options that extend beyond pay, and provide opportunities for career growth. At the same time, he acknowledged there's no absolute formula to identify disengagement at the individual level. "e more you round, the more that you spend time with your staff, the more likely you are to recognize changes in demeanor and perspective," Mr. Sadlier said. "e sooner you recognize it, the sooner you're able to have an influence on it. So that's where the regular engagement for leaders and supervisors has the biggest benefit — recognizing [disengagement] early and trying to find a way to reenergize and reengage staff." During an interview with Fortune, Katarina Berg, Spotify's chief human resources officer, said her company is working to avoid quiet quitting by encouraging a culture of trust where workers feel psychologically safe. Her advice for leaders is to talk about "the part of quiet quitting that has to do with people not [being] trusted, and they also don't trust their management team. erefore, they don't find any other resolution other than doing this type of very silent activism. So, I think with culture you always have to be proactive … and you have to be very deliberate and intentional." n

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