Becker's Hospital Review

36 36 CEO/STRATEGY MD Anderson Eliminates EVP Roles By Leo Vartorella H ouston-based MD Anderson Cancer Center on June 29 instituted a new organizational structure that elimi- nates executive vice president roles and gives senior vice presidents more focused areas of responsibility. In this new system, senior vice presidents will work with their teams and other departments within MD Anderson to build a more stream- lined leadership structure and encourage a collaborative environment. "Just as we care for our patients in a multidis- ciplinary way, in this structure, the resources, functions and people are coming together to work toward that same goal," said Steve Hahn, MD, deputy president and COO of MD An- derson. "is structure allows all constituents to have representation on the senior leader- ship team. It will foster greater collaboration and transparency throughout the institution." Former EVP Dan Fontaine will continue as a senior adviser until his retirement in January 2018, while Tom Buchholz, MD, will carry on his duties as a professor of radiation oncology and Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, will work on the Cancer Center Support Grant and conduct medical research. e change comes roughly four months af- ter Ronald DePinho, MD, resigned from the prominent cancer institution. In his parting words, Dr. DePinho took full responsibility for the financial difficulty MD Anderson ex- perienced in the past year. Last August, the center reported a 77 percent drop in its adjusted income over a 10-month span, then recorded an operating loss of more than $111 million for September through November 2016. In response, MD Anderson shared plans to eliminate roughly 1,000 jobs from its 20,000 and it also called off its collab- oration with IBM Watson, which was project- ed to cost more than $62 million. MD Anderson made another leadership change in May, when it named Ben Melson senior vice president and CFO. n Memorial Hermann to Cut Additional 350 Jobs By Kelly Gooch H ouston-based Memorial Hermann Health System will lay off an additional 350 employees, or less than 2 percent of its total workforce of more than 25,000. Health system officials attributed the decision to the changing healthcare climate and the local economy. "This is an unprecedented time in healthcare. The past year has ushered in a tremendous amount of change in the industry across the nation, and Houston is no exception. We continue to face an uncertain healthcare environment with escalating costs and declin- ing reimbursements. In addition, we are impacted by a softened local economy. Together, these reasons have driven Memorial Her- mann to make proactive adjustments to position itself for contin- ued success and financial sustainability," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review. Memorial Hermann did not detail which positions would be cut, except to say the workforce reduction will not affect direct patient care. Officials said the layoffs are "only one part of an overall strategy to adapt and prosper under an uncertain healthcare environment. This means reformatting our cost structure — being more cost-ef- ficient than in the past and consumer-focused than ever before." They added while the layoffs were not an easy decision, they "will ensure the organization is positioned to withstand the challenges we expect to face in the coming years." The recent layoffs are in addition to the 112 employees the health system laid off in January. Those layoffs mostly included leadership positions, according to the Houston Chronicle. n CHS Fires Lutheran Health Network CEO and CMO By Alyssa Rege F ranklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Sys- tems, the parent company of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Lutheran Health Network, fired LHN CEO Brian Bauer and LHN CMO Geoff Ran- dolph, MD, within a two-week period in June. In a letter sent to LHN employees, Martin Bonick, president of division I operations at CHS, said Mr. Bauer was fired "after considerable thought about what is needed to advance the network and many discussions with Brian … Current circumstances put him in an untenable position and he is unable to continue in his leadership role," according to a News-Sentinel report. Mr. Bauer had been CEO of the health network since 2013. Officials named Mike Poore, vice pres- ident of operations for CHS Professional Services Corp., interim CEO of LHN. Dr. Randolph's firing comes nearly two weeks after Mr. Bauer was let go. Two other physicians also tendered their resignations, including Fort Wayne-based Lutheran Hospital CMO Matthew Sutter, MD. In his letter of resignation obtained by wane.com, Dr. Sutter said he "can no longer in good conscience serve as part of the leadership team" at the hospital. The layoffs come weeks after CHS rejected a $2.4 billion proposal from LHN physicians to purchase the health network. n

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