Becker's Hospital Review

41 41 CEO/STRATEGY Former Cleveland Clinic Executive Pleads Guilty in $2.7M Fraud Scheme By Ayla Ellison T he former executive director of Cleveland Clin- ic Innovations, the development and commer- cialization arm of Cleveland Clinic, has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to defraud the hospital system out of more than $2.7 million, according to cleve- land.com. Federal prosecutors brought charges in September against the former executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Gary Fingerhut. Prosecutors alleged Mr. Fingerhut hired a person identi- fied in court documents as "W.R." to serve as a consultant and then chief technology officer at Interactive Visual Health Records, which Cleveland Clinic Innovations formed in 2012 to develop a visual medical charting concept into a marketplace product. Mr. Fingerhut and W.R. were prohibited from receiving financial benefit or having financial interests in the companies Cleveland Clinic did business with, unless expressly approved by the Clinic. According to the Department of Justice, W.R. worked with others to incorporate a shell company, known as iStarFZE, and used the shell company to submit a bid to Cleveland Clinic to design and develop IVHR's soware. W.R. did not disclose his financial interest in iStarFZE to Cleveland Clinic, and he rewarded Mr. Fingerhut fi- nancially for not disclosing the fraud scheme. Between August 2012 and November 2014, Mr. Fingerhut accept- ed about $130,000 in payments from W.R, according to the DOJ. rough the scheme, W.R. and others defrauded Cleve- land Clinic of more than $2.7 million. Prosecutors charged Mr. Fingerhut, who was fired by CCI in June 2015 following a report from the FBI stating he made financial transactions that violated the health system's policies, with one count of conspiracy to com- mit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, and one count of making false statements. Mr. Fingerhut formalized his plea agreement Oct. 10. Under the deal, he pleaded guilty to the charges, and prosecutors will seek a prison sentence of between 41 and 51 months. Prosecutors will also seek a court order requiring Mr. Fingerhut to pay the total amount Cleve- land Clinic lost in the scheme, according to cleveland. com. Mr. Fingerhut is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30. n How 1 Simple Framework Could Help Reduce Physician Burnout By Leo Vartorella P hysician burnout is one of the most pressing issues facing the healthcare industry, but utilizing one simple framework could help providers evaluate and address its root causes, according to the Harvard Business Review. The framework involves differentiating the areas of stress and reward that are inherent to caring for patients and those that are external. The first step of the framework involves diagram- ming the two types of stress and reward. On the inherent side, one example source of stress might be the high-stakes pres- sure of caring for human lives, while a reward might be the sense of meaning and purpose clinicians get from their work. On the external side, a reward might be good pay and bene- fits, while a source of stress might be a poor work environment or administrative burden. Once physicians have cataloged their stresses and rewards ac- cording to this framework, hospital and health system leaders can work to enhance the sense of inherent reward that their clini- cians feel. Conversely, those external sources of stress can actu- ally be addressed though organizational changes and reform. n Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter Steps Down By Ayla Ellison D allas-based Tenet Healthcare's longtime leader Trevor Fetter stepped down Oct. 23 from his role as CEO and resigned as a director of the company. Tenet announced in August it was replacing Mr. Fetter, who has led the 77-hospital chain since 2003. At that time, Tenet said Mr. Fetter would step down by March 15, 2018, or when the compa- ny appointed a successor, whichever occurred first. However, Mr. Fetter resigned as the company continues its search for a permanent CEO. Tenet's board of directors appointed Ron- ald A. Rittenmeyer, executive chairman, to serve as CEO during the executive search. "I have confidence in Ron's leadership and Tenet's management team, so now is the right time for me to step down as CEO," said Mr. Fetter. "I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of all of Tenet's employees in building this great company, and it has been an honor to work alongside them. n

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