Kenny Pawlek serves as Chief Operating Officer for USC Verdugo Hills Hospital.

Rakesh M. Suri, MD, DPhil, serves as Chief Executive Officer at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. 

"We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves." My colleagues in healthcare may relate to those words, written by author Tom Robbins. They apply to any leader in any sector of healthcare. As the CEO of New York's largest health system, I see all too clearly how the decisions we make each day can either push the industry forward or set it back.

Amy Frieman, MD, is a 10-year veteran of Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health, and she recently took on a new role as chief wellness officer for the organization.

Research has shown that women are judged more harshly than men when they make a mistake, which can result in a strong aversion to risk, lower confidence and missed leadership opportunities.

A promotion to the C-suite is more likely to result in a divorce for women than their male colleagues, according to a study published in the American Economic Journal.

Six Democratic candidates for president got fired up over healthcare in the ninth debate, hosted in Las Vegas Feb. 19.

"Co-opetition is the perfect approach for the health-care industry to avoid the destruction of much that is essential to the continuing health of the American people. It should be required reading by managers of health-care providers and health insurance or HMO managers." In this introductory quote in Co-opetition by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff, former COO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center John Gunn suggests that healthcare providers and organizations will thrive by capturing an overlooked opportunity to serve patients and communities.

I've written in previous columns that I believe we need to find ways to reconcile the concepts of "patient" and "consumer" in healthcare. We live in an age of ubiquitous handheld devices and social media. Convenience is prized more than ever.

Organized labor is divided on "Medicare for All," adding another wrinkle to the Democratic primaries in major union states like California, Michigan and New York, Politico reports. 

Board members of Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical System may have been privy to a book deal at the center of a widespread conflict-of-interest scandal and fraud scheme, The Baltimore Sun reports.

The latest column from The New York Times' Austin Frakt, PhD, outlines how health economists would reform the U.S. healthcare system, based on a survey of 200 PhDs. 

Billings (Mont.) Clinic's new leadership aims to keep patients and staff safe, according to local news station Q2.

As we now head into the 2020 election, healthcare has emerged as a principal focus of policy discussion.

The following hospitals and health systems cut jobs or revealed plans to cut jobs in February:

Below are 10 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking COOs during the past month.

Medicaid work requirements took another hit Feb. 14 when a federal appeals court panel sided with a lower court's ruling that struck down the rules for Arkansas' Medicaid beneficiaries, according to The New York Times.

Large healthcare industry players are at odds with a proposal from the Trump administration that would change reporting requirements for state supplemental payments to Medicaid providers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

By the year 2025, industry analysts predict the healthcare industry will undergo major shifts, including a noticeable gap in the number of available health care providers. A combination of more insured patients, an aging population, a rise in the number of veterans with medical issues, and a shortage of doctors pose challenges to an already stressed system.

As senior leaders in complex healthcare organizations, we have an enormous privilege. Each day, we support thousands of wonderful people doing amazing work taking care of patients and their families. We set the pace for change. We speed it up, and when appropriate, we slow it down. We are equally charged with managing things simple and complex. We have a small number of key responsibilities: achieving our missions, making our margins and taking care of our people. However, we sometimes forget that the last point — taking care of our people — should always be the first point.