Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/790284
50 50 CEO/STRATEGY Summa Health CEO Resigns Amid Physician Tension By Emily Rappleye A kron, Ohio-based Summa Health System's President and CEO Thom- as Malone, MD, resigned Jan. 26 after facing significant criticism from phy- sicians and staff, according to a report from Cleveland.com. Summa leadership has been under fire since it switched emergency room physician groups upon the start of 2017 with little notice. e health system's contract with longtime part- ner Summa Emergency Associates expired and it began staffing emergency rooms across several locations from US Acute Care Solu- tions, a national emergency medicine group. Shortly aer the switch, roughly 250 physi- cians voted "no confidence" in Dr. Malone and health system leadership at an impromp- tu staff meeting. Physicians also signed a let- ter calling for Dr. Malone to resign. ey said the decision was "the last straw," and told the Akron Beacon Journal a culture of fear exists among Summa employees. Attempting to deal with the fallout, Dr. Malone issued a memo to staff on Jan. 9 apologizing for the ER staff switch and "disruptions to both our patients and our employees." e board backed Dr. Malone, but promised to enact changes to address physician concerns. However, Dr. Malone ultimately decided to re- sign because "it became apparent that his con- tinued presence in his role at CEO was distract- ing the forward progress of the organization," the health system's board of directors said in a statement, according to Cleveland.com. Dr. Malone, who has led Summa Health since 2015, will finish out his last 60 days as presi- dent and CEO, according to the report. "I care deeply about the future of Summa Health and am incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished together over the last two years," Dr. Malone said in a statement, accord- ing to Cleveland.com. "However, as I thought about what would be best for our organization moving forward, it became clear to me that my presence may be a distraction from our goals. And that is unacceptable to me." n CEO Credibility at All-Time Low, Study Finds: 5 Findings By Tamara Rosin C EO credibility dropped 12 points across the globe to reach a record low of 37 percent, according to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer. The firm's 17th annual trust and credibility survey was done by research firm Edelman Intelligence and consisted of 25-minute online interviews of 33,000 global respondents conducted between Oct. 13 and Nov. 6. Here are five findings from the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer. 1. Of all leaders, government leaders are the least credible, with only 29 percent of respondents saying they believe these leaders are credible. 2. Employees are trusted by an average of 16 points more than CEOs on com- munication about employee/customer relations (53 percent), financial earn- ings (38 percent), crises (37 percent), innovation (33 percent), industry issues (32 percent) or programs addressing societal issues (30 percent). 3. The barometer found evidence of further dispersion of authority. Sixty percent of respondents believe members of the general public, academic and technical experts are equally credible sources of information about a company. Only 37 percent of respondents believe the CEO is the most credible source of information. 4. Distrust in general is intensified by the emergence of media echo cham- bers that reinforce personal beliefs while failing to acknowledge or de-le- gitimize opposing points of view. Most survey respondents (59 percent) favor search engines over human editors (41 percent) and are nearly four times more likely to ignore information that supports a position they do not believe in. 5. Less than half (43 percent) of respondents indicated trust in the media, reaching an all-time low in 17 countries. Similarly, only 41 percent of respon- dents said they trust their government, while respondents in half of the 28 countries surveyed said government is the least trusted institution. n DMC Replaces CEO Joe Mullany; Sources Say Decision Linked to His Resistance to Job Cuts By Tamara Rosin J oe Mullany, CEO of Detroit Medical Center, was one of the first of several corporate executives to be terminat- ed in a national restructuring plan by par- ent company Dallas-based Tenet Health- care, Crain's Detroit Business reported. Those close to the matter told Crain's the reason is partially because Mr. Mullany re- fused to lay off more employees over the past two years. The hospital has laid off 200 employees, accounting for about 2 percent of its work- force, and left many other positions vacant over the past two years. A DMC physician confirmed with Crain's that Tenet sought more layoffs at DMC. Mr. Mullany declined to comment on his departure, and officials from Tenet and DMC declined to address why Mr. Mullany was replaced by Tony Tedeschi, MD, who most recently served as CEO of Tenet's Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago. n