Becker's Hospital Review

80 POPULATION HEALTH 80 CEO/STRATEGY Why at least 9 high-ranking Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center employees have left the institution within the past year By Alyssa Rege A t least nine high-ranking employees, from department chairs to admin- istrative leaders, have le Colum- bus-based e Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center since January 2017. Several of those who le have transitioned to similar or higher-ranking positions at Morgantown, W. Va.-based WVU Medicine, according to e Lantern. At least five of the nine OSU Wexner employees who le during the last year were part of a coali- tion of 25 medical school faculty members that penned a letter of "no confidence" to the medi- cal center's former CEO last May. e seven-page letter criticized the leadership of former OSU Wexner Medical Center CEO Sheldon Retchin, MD, stating Dr. Retchin maintained "unrealistic clinical effort and re- search funding expectations that are incom- patible with academic medicine," and dis- respected the hospital's and the university's academic mission, e Columbus Dispatch reported at the time. John Campo, MD, the Sinsabaugh Professor and chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health at OSU Wexner, told e Lan- tern he and his wife, who is also a high-rank- ing employee at the university, plan to leave the institution in March for WVU Medicine. Dr. Campo was also one of the 25 faculty members who signed the letter of no confidence last year. He said the decision to leave OSU Wexner was not one he and his wife made lightly, but was the result of leadership failing to address faculty members' concerns. "I think that the university missed an oppor- tunity to hear what I think were very sincere concerns by the folks who wrote those let- ters," Dr. Campo told e Lantern. "We were reaching out to ... the leadership to say we're concerned that we're losing our way." He said many faculty members' decision to transfer to WVU Medicine was grounded in the cultural differences between the two or- ganizations. "at's one unfortunate thing here at Ohio State is that you have the medical center over here and then you have student health and student mental health over on the university sides," Dr. Campo said. "And it's not like we don't collaborate. ere are some wonderful people there and we like working with them, but we're separate services." "e narrative has been: 'e problem has been within the medical center,' but there are always problems to fix. ere are issues bigger than just the medical center that probably re- late to the relationship between the university and the medical center that deserve a look and some consideration," he continued. "I think that the issue here is about culture, that the whole culture thing is one I don't know is lim- ited to the medical center or if it's larger here." During several board meetings in January, Ohio State officials said the university is cra- ing a plan to retain prominent faculty, the re- port states. n Buffett on new healthcare company: 'I'm hopeful, but don't expect any miracles' By Julie Spitzer B erkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buf- fett spoke with CNBC's "Squawk Box" about his vision for the company's healthcare initiative with Amazon and JPMorgan Chase, hinting the venture will go beyond reducing healthcare costs. The trio — Mr. Buffett, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and JPMor- gan CEO Jamie Dimon — embarked on a new venture in January aimed at lowering healthcare costs for their U.S. employees. They hope the combined size of their compa- nies will offer the scale and resources needed to address one of the most complicated issues in the industry. "We've got the perfect partnership with Jeff and Jamie," Mr. Buffett told CNBC. "Our companies are big, and yet we can still make things happen. We don't have bureaucrat- ic problems or constituency problems that some others might and we like we each other. We trust each other." Here are five highlights from the conversation. 1. Mr. Buffett called healthcare spending a "tapeworm on the economic system," and said its time the private sector steps up to lower health costs. 2. He doesn't feel the U.S. system is "cost-conscious" and argues it should foster "better care in reality and also in terms of how the people feel about the care that they're receiving." 3. Mr. Buffett is somewhat confident about his, Amazon's and JPMorgan's effort. "It isn't difficult to shave a little bit off [of healthcare costs] here," Mr. Buffett said. "The ques- tion is whether we can come up with something better. I'm hopeful, but don't expect any miracles." 4. He believes the company will need a "top-notch CEO … [who] has to be someone who really has a grasp on [health- care] from every angle," he told CNBC. 5. Mr. Buffett rejected some analysts' speculations that the Berkshire-Amazon-JPMorgan collaboration could tap Teva Pharmaceuticals, which Berkshire holds a $377 million stake in, noting that is the "last thing on my mind." n

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