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16 Hartford Business Journal • September 10, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com "We're probably turning away six times the number we accept," she said of her nursing program's application volume. Besides designing new training programs, HHC has used other tactics to recruit nurses. When it was constructing its $150 million Bone & Joint Institute in 2015 and 2016, Hartford Hospital tapped its marketing team to craft advertise- ments that ran on the radio and music streaming service Pandora. They were targeted at attracting specialty nurses and surgical technologists — the types of skilled positions you might not typically hear advertised on mass consumer platforms. "It was really part of a multi- pronged effort — a comprehensive campaign to open the [Bone & Joint Institute] well-staffed and on time," said Rebecca Stewart, director of the Hartford HealthCare News Service. Prestige MDs Physician recruitment has also been a key focus in recent years, says Jeff Flaks, HHC's president and chief oper- ating officer. More specifically, the system has sought to recruit physicians with strong reputations and well-situated appointments at other institutions. Call them prestige hires. "We've recruited at this point 10 or more national and international physi- cian leaders, who have led prestigious places across the country where they were well-situated," Flaks said. They may not be household names, but Flaks says patients still take notice. "Patients want people with ex- perience or who've led discovery or achieved results," he said. "Unques- tionably, when you bring in the right leaders, the programs have more capability to grow and expand." Such recruits, he says, "immediately up the chances of more recruitment, more industry partnerships, more research and leading capabilities." So what makes docs pick up stakes and move to Connecticut? Does HHC dangle extra big salaries? Not so, says Flaks. The health sys- tem's salaries are "largely comparable" to peer systems. Rather, he said, HHC offers its top docs an environment where they can be innovative and pur- sue new care models. Among the 10 recruits Flaks men- tioned is Dr. Peter Paul Yu, named two years ago as physician-in-chief of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Insti- tute, which coordinates HHC's cancer research partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) in New York. Yu had been cancer research direc- tor at the Palo Alto Medical Founda- tion in California since 2008, and advised former Vice President Joe Biden on his cancer research fund- ing "Moonshot" initiative. Yu was just coming off a leadership stint with the high-profile American Society of Clini- cal Oncology when MSK — where Yu was a researcher about 30 years prior — came knocking on HHC's behalf. MSK and HHC were forging ahead on their 2014 cancer research alliance, and needed a physician leader. Yu said he was at a turning point in his career, which had brought him to the West Coast for several decades. He saw the MSK alliance as a promising new model for cancer research and patient care, and came to see HHC as a system determined to integrate its growing holdings with the aim of improving health care. "What I saw in Hartford was pretty unique," Yu said. During employment talks, he recalls asking a former colleague for advice about what, if any, demands he might want to make. With the MSK alliance still fairly new, he decided he wasn't sure what he might need. He said he accepted the job offer, telling Flaks and HHC CEO Elliot Joseph that he was going to bring them potential deals with strategic partners, and insisted they evaluate them "seri- ously, carefully, and nimbly." Attitude sometimes trumps all While Hartford HealthCare's work- force needs are real and have forced piv- ots and innovations, don't mistake it for a beggars-can't-be-choosers situation. Indeed, HHC officials appear to perceive plenty of leverage in their recruiting strategies. Gerry Lupacchino, the system's vice president of experience, engagement and organizational development, of- fers a recent anecdote to illustrate. Back in the spring, HHC was inter- viewing a job applicant for what Lupac- chino called a "clinical leader" position. "He came highly recommended and had all the credentials we wanted," Lupacchino recalled. Yet, HHC ended up taking a pass. It came down to the applicant's attitude and demeanor in the interview. " 'Cynical' is the word," Lupacchino said. "That sort of war-torn, 'I've seen it all stuff.' " The clinician didn't react positively when managers told him HHC had pledged to its board of directors that it will strive to achieve the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any Northeast hospital by 2023, as mea- sured by patient surveys conducted by Press Ganey Associates (think of them as a sort of J.D. Power for health care). HHC executives are known to use one phrase often: They want the sys- tem to be "the most trusted for per- sonalized, coordinated care." To some, it could sound like a buzz phrase, but HHC managers insist it's not. "We have a strong belief about what it is we are building here," Lupacchino said. "If you don't at your core believe that what we're saying we're going to do is possible, and you come in with a certain jaded point of view," you may be shown the door. That recruiting filter applies to any potential recruit HHC interviews, Lupacchino says, but especially those in more senior roles. Flaks says the approach is driven by a "culture-first" mantra. "We will not bring people into this organization, even if they are world renown or if they have significant research support or tremendous name recognition, if they're inconsistent with our values, if they're not bought in to our leadership behavior we all aspire to," Flaks said. "We live to our values." SPECIAL SERIES Top 10 healthcare-related positions in CT, by projected annual job openings through 2026 Hourly Projected Total employment mean wage openings Nursing assistants 22,874 $15.79 2,563 Registered nurses 37,542 $38.81 2,128 Home health aides 10,437 $13.06 1,279 Medical assistants 9,412 $17.52 1,068 Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses 8,319 $28.00 602 Dental assistants 4,597 $21.84 529 Massage therapists 3,280 $18.13 362 Pharmacy technicians 4,185 $16.24 346 Dental hygenists 4,497 $42.04 310 Emergency medical technicians 3,872 $23.12 260 Source: U.S. BLS; CT DOL >> HartfordHealthCare continued (Left) Hartford HealthCare President Jeffrey Flaks. (Right) Dr. Peter Yu greets Flaks at an event celebrating his hire as physician-in-chief of the HHC Cancer Institute. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED