Becker's Hospital Review

13 CEO / STRATEGY Health systems zero in on exec teams By Molly Gamble At least half a dozen health systems announced changes to their executive ranks in the past month. As health systems find themselves in untenable financial positions and looming risk of an economic recession, job cuts and layoffs in hospitals and health systems are increasingly likely. In a report released Oct. 18 from Kaufman Hall based on response from 86 health system leaders, 46 percent said labor costs are the largest opportunity for cost reduction — up significantly from the 17 percent of leaders who said the same in 2021. Job cuts at hospitals may seem counterintuitive given the nation's widely known shortages of healthcare workers. But as hospitals weather one of their most financially difficult years, some are reducing administrative staff, not filling vacant jobs and reorganizing or shrinking their executive teams to curb costs. Combined, adjustments to executive teams of HCA Healthcare, Sharp HealthCare, MemorialCare, Kettering Health, Sanford Health and Summa Health affect at least 32 individuals or roles. All were announced in the past month and are summarized below, beginning with the most recent, with links to more comprehensive coverage of the changes. 1. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare announced a dozen executive changes and the creation of a third operating group Oct. 25. e 182-hospital system's three groups are now divided into the American group, national group and Atlantic group, with each overseeing five domestic divisions. Each group has a president and each domestic division has a president. 2. San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare is reorganizing executive leadership for its seven hospitals, which will be divided into a three-hospital group and a four-hospital group, each overseen by one executive. e system is also creating new executive roles — chief nursing executive and chief clinical and transformation officer. 3. MemorialCare Long Beach (Calif.) Medical Center and MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach made four executive moves as part of strategic changes to executive leadership aer the unexpected resignations of CEO John Bishop and former COO Ike Mmeje this summer. 4. Fourteen-hospital Kettering (Ohio) Health will keep two executive roles vacant for the time being aer the leaders stepped down from their leadership roles. Kettering Health President Wally Sackett and Chief Administrative Officer Terry Burns were out of their roles effective Oct. 7. 5. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health announced plans in October to lay off an undisclosed number of staff, a decision that President and CEO Bill Gassen says is "to streamline leadership structure and simplify operations." Mr. Gassen said the layoffs primarily affect nonclinical areas and that they will "not adversely impact patient or resident care in any way." 6. Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health rolled out 10 changes to its executive team with the creation of three roles, elimination of four roles and appointments of three senior leaders. Cliff Deveny, MD, Summa Health president and CEO, said the leadership changes announced Oct. 4 are being made to better align the system with ongoing changes in healthcare, to become more efficient and to streamline decision making. n VCU Health CEO resigns By Kelly Gooch A rthur Kellermann, MD, has resigned as health sciences senior vice president and CEO of Richmond, Va.-based VCU Health System. The VCU Health board of directors and VCU board of visitors accepted Dr. Kellermann's resignation Nov. 3, according to an email to colleagues from Michael Rao, president of VCU and VCU Health. Marlon Levy, MD — chief medical officer of VCU Medical Center, chair of the division of transplant surgery and director of Hume-Lee Transplant Center — was selected as interim senior vice president and CEO. Mr. Rao said Dr. Kellermann's tenure "was marked by COVID challenges, and I appreciate how he, our leadership team and each and every one of you helped us manage such difficult times." He added, "I know you join me, and our boards, in thanking Dr. Kellermann." Mr. Rao also included a message from Dr. Kellermann in his email. That message states in part, "At the request of President Rao, I have decided to step down from my role as senior vice president and CEO of VCU Health System. No words can express how grateful I am for the privilege of leading VCU's Health Science Schools and VCU Health, to advance their values and vision, and work with so many amazing people. " Dr. Kellermann's email also highlights achievements of health system staff during the pandemic, saying, "While battling COVID around the clock, you also delivered lifesaving care to patients with complex trauma, major burns, cancer, cardiovascular disease, organ failure, strokes, high-risk childbirths, extreme prematurity and other pediatric illnesses and conditions." Additionally, Dr. Kellermann said VCU's Health Sciences Schools and College of Health Professions "met the challenge by pivoting to on-line learning within days and embracing other educational innovations that enabled them to graduate adaptive and resilient students on time." Dr. Kellermann joined VCU in October 2020. Before joining VCU, Dr. Kellermann was dean of the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Regarding the future of the health system, Mr. Rao said it would "share information about what is next in the coming weeks." n

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