When John Jay Shannon, Parkland Memorial Hospital's chief medical officer, was shown the door last month as part of an executive shakeup, he pocketed a $487,656 severance payment. He also received assurances that Parkland will pay for his defense in legal actions related to his work at the hospital "to the extent" provided by laws, according to the separation agreement I obtained. The pact does not explicitly say why Shannon will be paid about the same amount as his annual salary when he no longer will stay in his job. Such big parting payouts to former Parkland chiefs aren't unusual.
Minnesota could have within several years several hundred practicing "community paramedics," a new designation of healthcare providers spawned by the shortage of doctors and nurses in rural parts of the state. Once certified, community paramedics can deal with a range of non-emergency healthcare needs that otherwise, for example, might send people unnecessarily to the emergency room and wind up costing more. Minnesota is the first state in the country to establish the new classification under law. Some officials hope that as many as 20 percent of the state's 2,200 paramedics will obtain the certification.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital is in talks with Tampa Bay's BayCare Health System about a cost-cutting deal that could mean turning over business functions to the larger, 10-hospital network—including a potential loss of some Sarasota Memorial jobs. BayCare outlined the idea to the Sarasota hospital's governance committee on Sept. 4, discussing the benefits of joint ventures and economies of scale. With some 2,779 beds in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties—and with plans to acquire the 527-bed Winter Haven Hospital in Polk County—the not-for-profit network is looking to expand so it can better compete with for-profit hospital chains.
LSU's public hospitals in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria could be seeking suitors by the end of the year. LSU System supervisors Friday authorized the heads of all 10 LSU system hospitals to seek partners to invest in, manage or buy the hospitals. On Friday, LSU Shreveport Chancellor Dr. Robert Barish briefed employees after the vote. Although there's no written time line for finding private partners, Dr. Hugh Mighty expects a proposal request to be ready this fall. Mighty is LSU Health Shreveport vice chancellor for clinical affairs. The health center had to cut $46 million from its 2012-13 budget after the federal government reduced Louisiana's Medicaid funding.
Tensions have reached a boiling point at Corona's hospital after physicians held an emergency meeting to ask the top administrator to resign because of what they call antagonistic management practices. Roughly 50 physicians at Corona Regional Medical Center voted Thursday, Sept. 6, in support of a no-confidence vote and a request for the immediate resignation of Chief Executive Officer Kevan Metcalfe. Hospital spokeswoman Linda Pearson said Monday, Sept. 10, that the medical center does not comment on internal matters about its staff.
Earlier this month, Boston’s own Atul Gawande surprised many readers of The New Yorker by praising The Cheesecake Factory for demonstrating how the US healthcare system could provide more standardized, high-quality patient care. In the labor intensive world of healthcare delivery, as physician and patient safety advocate Lucian Leape, of the Harvard School of Public Health has pointed out, quality patient care (and thus customer satisfaction) depends on whether health care employers treat their staff respectfully. While the Cheesecake Factory may have developed a highly efficient and thus profitable business model, it seems to be one based on punitive labor practices.