Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1516121
22 HEALTHCARE NEWS 22 How University Hospitals' CEO is turning the page on work culture By Kelly Gooch C liff Megerian, MD, CEO of Cleveland-based University Hospitals, launched a book club for employees in 2022. Today, Cliff 's Notes: A UH Book Club, which is named aer Dr. Megerian, continues to evolve and grow. "It's really become a place for a widely diverse group of our 32,000 caregivers that gather at this juncture once a month and pick from one or sometimes both books that were selected by the group at the last meeting," Dr. Megerian told Becker's. e book club began in June 2022, when the first meeting was held via Zoom. It had its first in-person meeting in December 2022. Dr. Megerian said the origins of the book club go back to his passion for reading. He wanted to share some of his favorite books with workers. University Hospitals board member Steve Potash is president and CEO of OverDrive, a company he founded in 1986 that provides a digital reading platform for ebooks, audiobooks and other digital media, and told Dr. Megerian that his company could provide a stream of books for a book club. UH spokesperson Lisa Riordan told Becker's that Dr. Megerian recommends titles to book club participants, in addition to accepting suggestions from the UH book club committee. Employees receive a "Cliff pick" and a "committee pick" monthly. Book club participants then discuss the two books at a later meeting. Employees can also access the "pick of the month" books via a website or OverDrive's Libby mobile app, Ms. Riordan said. Additionally, there is a web page on the UH intranet for the book club where people can post thoughts about the titles they are reading. Since the club launched, as many as 50 employees have participated in a meeting, although approximately 15-20 employees attend a typical meeting, according to Ms. Riordan. Since its inception, Cliff 's Notes: A UH Book Club has had more than 3,500 book checkouts, with a 44% increase from 2022 to 2023, and participants have read dozens of books. For two features — "Strategy at Works" by Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi and "Dream Town" by Laura Mecker — the authors spoke to book club participants. "What happens at these meetings is that everyone takes off their work clothes, if you will, whether they're president, vice president or they work in the cafeteria," said Dr. Megerian. "It's a place where all opinions are equal. And as you could probably imagine, if you've ever been in a book club, it becomes a self-perpetuating group where what evolves amongst the group is trust, mutual respect." He said the trust that's gained at the book club meetings — where there are sometimes intense discussions as people give their opinions and perceptions of a book — has overall elevated the culture of University Hospitals. "Whether it's the CEO or whether it is anyone else in the organization, …that person's opinion matters. And I think this also has helped elevate one of my goals …of creating a speak-up culture where people feel empowered to speak up when they sense that something needs to Financial pressures to drive health system M&A, even among strong hospitals By Laura Dyrda T he number of financially distressed hospitals looking for a partner increased from 2022 to 2023, as financial pressures became a driving force in healthcare mergers and acquisitions last year, according to a Jan. 18 Kaufman Hall report. Financial distress was present or a factor in 28% of transactions last year, up from 15% in 2022. Overall, there were 65 transactions last year, compared to 53 the previous year, and 16 of the 2023 transactions occurred in the fourth quarter. "We are seeing an increasing number of larger systems citing financial distress, a change from the historical concentration of distress in smaller hospitals and health systems," wrote Anu Singh, managing practice leader of partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, in the report. "At the same time, we are seeing the percentage of transactions in which the smaller party has a credit rating of 'A-' or higher holding steady." Zeroing in on the fourth quarter transactions, the average annual revenue of the smaller party was $647 million and the total transaction revenue was $10.4 billion. Hospital financial performance "stabilized" in the last year, according to Kaufman Hall, but the average hospital margin in November was 2%, below the 3% to 4% range nonprofit hospitals consider sustainable, according to the report. Financial pressures are expected to continue over the next 12 months, which will drive even hospitals and health systems to seek creative solutions. "Many organizations continue to struggle, and the search for partners for these organizations is likely to continue," wrote Mr. Singh. "These trends underscore the need for organizations to, whenever possible, attempt to work from a position of strength when seeking partnership alternatives before financial distress impacts a hospital or health system's flexibility." n