Becker's Hospital Review

36 36 CEO/STRATEGY Swedish Health Services' CEO, Top Surgeon Resign After Investigation Into Medical Practices By Heather Punke A nthony Armada, the CEO of Seat- tle-based Swedish Health Services, resigned on Feb. 21, just days aer a Seattle Times report prompted state regulators to investigate the Swedish Neuroscience Insti- tute on the Cherry Hill campus in Seattle. Mr. Armada's decision to step down was a personal one, and he told the board he felt it was in the best interest of the organization, according to Swedish. Swedish was in hot water with state regula- tors aer a Seattle Times report, published Feb. 10, uncovered patient care concerns at the neuroscience institute stemming from what the paper called an "aggressive pursuit" for increased patient volumes. Mr. Armada issued a statement Feb. 10 dis- puting e Seattle Times report, saying in part, "It was implied our priorities are mis- placed. Our number one priority is quality care and patient safety, and caring for all pa- tients who need us." e report found the drive to increase volume le nurses with high caseloads and led to sur- geons using a concurrent surgery model. e paper also said many physicians had problems with Johnny Delashaw, MD, being chairman of neurosurgery at SNI because he had allega- tions against him of high complication rates. Dr. Delashaw resigned from this role on March 1 and will no longer practice at the Seattle-based health system, according to e Seattle Times. Swedish Health Services confirmed to Becker's that Dr. Delashaw did decide to resign, but a spokesperson had no more to add. Both Mr. Armada and Dr. Delashaw had worked at Swedish since 2013. e system's board of trustees named R. Guy Hudson, MD, interim CEO on Feb. 21. Dr. Hud- son, a pediatric urologic surgeon with an MBA, most recently served as Swedish's chief of physi- cian services for western Washington. "We believe this is an important time to return to physician leadership," Teresa Bigelow, the chairwoman of the board, said in a statement. Scott Becker, publisher of Becker's Healthcare, says of Mr. Armada: "While not familiar with the situation at Swedish, Tony Armada is a smart, gied leader and we personally hope he resurfaces soon in healthcare leadership." n Iowa Hospital CEO Resigns Over Improper Travel Expenses By Anuja Vaidya M anchester, Iowa-based Region- al Medical Center CEO Lon Bu- tikofer has resigned. The hos- pital's board of trustees discovered that Mr. Butikofer had submitted "improper travel expense reimbursement." "The Governing Board of Trustees was disappointed to learn of these improper expenses and will be moving forward to fill the [CEO] position," a hospital state- ment notes. Mr. Butikofer has served as CEO of the hospital for more than 30 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. While the board searches for a perma- nent replacement, Regional Medical Center CFO Danette Kramer will serve as interim CEO. The hospital will notify the state auditor and work with the appropriate agencies to remedy the situation. It will also work with an independent auditing firm for fur- ther expense reimbursement review. n How CEOs Should Address Contentious Politics: 4 Points to Consider By Tamara Rosin I n an era when the political envi- ronment is more divisive and con- tentious than ever before, how should executives speak out about politics — if they should at all? Ac- cording to Harvard Business Review, there are risks and rewards associat- ed with CEO activism. Public relations company Weber Shandwick and KRC Research sur- veyed 1,050 senior executives and 2,100 consumers across 21 markets worldwide to assess people's expec- tations of corporate leaders on polit- ical issues. Here are four findings from the survey, according to Harvard Business Review. 1. The two biggest factors that in- fluence consumers' opinions about companies are what customers say about them (indicated by 88 percent of respondents) and how companies react during a crisis (85 percent). 2. A company's response to a contro- versy, including how promptly it re- sponds, is a bigger driver of the pub- lic's perception of the company than what is said about it by the media (76 percent), by employees (76 percent), by the company on its website (68 percent), by official spokespeople (61 percent), or in the company's ad- vertising (61 percent). 3. Stakeholders are beginning to pressure CEOs to speak up on con- troversial issues. The survey found 46 percent of executives from large com- panies prefer that companies speak out on political issues such as climate change, gun control, immigration and LGBT rights. This is up from 36 percent of executives who indicated the same in the 2014 survey. 4. Among executive respondents who work for companies with "world-class" reputations, 63 per- cent said CEOs should take a pub- lic stance on such issues. However, fewer consumers (41 percent) said companies should speak out on po- litical issues. n

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