Becker's Hospital Review

15 CEO / STRATEGY Most board members at the nation's top hospitals have no healthcare background: Study By Jakob Emerson L ess than 15 percent of board members overseeing the nation's top hospitals have a professional background in healthcare, while more than half have a background in finance or business services, according to a study published Feb. 8 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. e study's authors represent Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. ey wrote that they sought to understand which professions are represented most among hospital boards because they may influence the organization's goals and overall strategy — there also had been little research done around the topic previously. e study began in July by examining the 20 top-rated hospitals by US News & World Report in 2022, which are all nonprofit academic medical centers in urban areas. Only 15 of the 20 facilities publish board information online, and IRS filings for the remaining were incomplete or outdated. For the 15 hospitals that provide information on their board members, the authors sorted their professional backgrounds across 11 industry sectors using the North American Industry Classification System, which is the federal standard. For board members with healthcare backgrounds, they were further categorized as trained physicians, nurses, or other workers. Four key takeaways: 1. At the 15 examined hospitals, there were 567 board members. e study was able to sort 529 into professional categories. 2. Among the 529 board members, 44 percent had a background in finance. Among them, more than 80 percent led private equity funds, wealth management firms, or multinational banks. e remainder were in real estate (14.7 percent) or insurance (5.2 percent). 3. e second and third most common sectors were health services (16.4 percent) and professional and business services (12.6 percent). 4. Across the 15 hospitals, 14.6 percent of board members were healthcare professionals — primarily physicians (13.3 percent) and followed by nurses (0.9 percent). e study noted that its findings may not represent all hospitals because it only studied the highest-ranked, and some of those hospitals do not publicly report information on their board members. e study also did not examine "the community ties of board members to gauge local accountability of board decisions." e authors also noted that they did not examine the racial and gender makeup of boards, which they said merits further review — in 2018, 42 percent of U.S. hospital boards had all-white members and 70 percent of members were male. n Illinois hospital CEO dismissed amid board investigation By Alexis Kayser D ebbie Campbell has been dismissed as CEO of Thomas H. Boyd Memorial Hospital in Carrollton, Ill., WLDS1180 reported Feb. 16. Ms. Campbell was removed from the role in late December after serving the hospital since 1977, and leading it as CEO since 1994. Donna DeWitt, the hospital's compliance, quality, safety and risk management administrator, is serving as interim CEO, Greene County (Ill.) Board Chairs Andrea Schnelten and Bob Ross told the news station. Mr. Ross, the board's finance chair, has asked for an audit and list of expenses for the hospital's ambulance service after receiving complaints about its performance. Ms. Campbell is still listed as CEO on the hospital's website. Becker's has reached out to the hospital and its parent health system, Carrollton-based Boyd Healthcare Services, for comment and will update this story if more information becomes available. n Some Gen Zers hope they get laid off: Here's why By Alexis Kayser Younger generations aren't lamenting layoffs, Bloomberg reported Feb. 8. A survey conducted for Bloomberg News by the Harris Poll found that 18 percent of Gen Z respondents and 15 percent of millennial respondents would feel happy about being laid off. There are several reasons for this positive outlook on a typically harrowing life event, according to Bloomberg. The unemployment rate is the lowest it's been since 1969, and the ratio of job openings to unemployed people hit 1.9 in December — nearly setting a record. Many young people feel they can easily find a new position, and the numbers back them up. Younger generations are also more likely to see layoffs as redirection. Individuals interviewed by Bloomberg used their newfound freedom to work on "passion projects," explore freelancing, pivot to a new industry or even join exchange programs in other countries. n

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