A major medical staffing company just slashed benefits for doctors and nurses fighting coronavirus

Could there be a worse time to put profits over people?

By

Isaac Arnsdorf

Apr 2, 2020

By Isaac Arnsdorf

April 2, 2020

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Emergency room doctors and nurses many of whom are dealing with an onslaught of coronavirus patients and shortages of protective equipment — are now finding out that their compensation is getting cut.

Most ER providers in the U.S. work for staffing companies that have contracts with hospitals. Those staffing companies are losing revenue as hospitals postpone elective procedures and non-coronavirus patients avoid emergency rooms. Health insurers are processing claims more slowly as they adapt to a remote workforce.

“Despite the risks our providers are facing, and the great work being done by our teams, the economic challenges brought forth by COVID-19 have not spared our industry,” Steve Holtzclaw, the CEO of Alteon Health, one of the largest staffing companies, wrote in a memo to employees on Monday.

The memo announced that the company would be reducing hours for clinicians, cutting pay for administrative employees by 20%, and suspending 401(k) matches, bonuses and paid time off. Holtzclaw indicated that the measures were temporary but didn’t know how long they would last.

In a follow-up memo sent to salaried physicians on Tuesday night, Alteon said it would convert them to an hourly rate, implying that they would start earning less money since the company had already said it would reduce their hours. The memo asked employees to accept the change or else contact the human resources department within five days “to discuss alternatives,” without saying what those might be. The memo said Alteon was trying to avoid laying anyone off.

“It’s completely demoralizing,” said an Alteon clinician who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “At this time, of all times, we’re putting ourselves at risk but also putting our families at risk.

“Some co-workers are already taking on extra burdens such as living apart from their families to avoid the risk of infecting them, the clinician said. “A lot of sacrifices are being made on the front line that the administration is not seeing because they’re not stepping foot in a hospital,” she said. “I’ve completely lost trust with this company.”

Other employers will soon follow suit, Holtzclaw said, citing conversations with his counterparts across the industry. “You can be assured that similar measures are being contemplated within these organizations and will likely be implemented in the coming weeks,” he wrote.

However, another major staffing company for emergency rooms, TeamHealth, said its employees would not be affected. “We are not instituting any reduction in pay or benefits,” TeamHealth said in a statement to ProPublica. “This is despite incurring significant cost for staffing in anticipation of surging volumes, costs related to quarantined and sick physicians, and costs for PPE as we work hard to protect our clinicians from the virus.”

Alteon and its private-equity backers, Frazier Healthcare Partners and New Mountain Capital, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Private equity investors have increasingly acquired doctors’ practices in recent years, according to a study published in February in JAMA. TeamHealth was bought by Blackstone Group in 2016; another top staffing firm, Envision Healthcare, is owned by KKR. (The staffing companies have also been implicated in the controversy over “surprise billing.”)

Hospital operators have also announced cuts. Tenet Healthcare, a Dallas-based publicly traded company that runs 65 hospitals, said it would postpone 401(k) matches and tighten spending on contractors and vendors. Emergency room doctors at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have been told some of their accrued pay is being held back, according to The Boston Globe. More than 1,100 staffers at Atrius Health in Massachusetts are facing reduced paychecks or unpaid furloughs, and raises for medical staff at South Shore Health, another health system in Massachusetts, are being delayed. Several other hospitals have also announced furloughs.

“We all feel pretty crestfallen,” another ER doctor employed by Alteon said in a text message. “I did expect support from our administrators, and this certainly doesn’t feel like that.”

At Alteon, Holtzclaw wrote that the measures were necessary despite relief available from the $2 trillion stimulus that Congress passed last week. Those provisions include deferring payroll taxes, suspending reimbursement cuts and receiving advance Medicare payments.

Alteon’s pay cut doesn’t affect hourly rates for clinicians, but some of the people characterized as administrative employees are practicing doctors such as medical directors, according to one who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In his case, he said the cut amounts to about $20,000 a year.

“Every day I’m in county and federal emergency meetings. This is besides seeing patients. I’m doing more hands-on work right now than ever before,” he said. “I’m getting calls 24/7 from the hospital administration, the county management team. I have not had a day off in over two weeks. And I’m working all this for 20% less.”

The medical director said he understood the company has to cope with lost income, but he wished the leadership had let employees choose among a range of sacrifices that would best suit their individual circumstances.

“This decision is being made not by physicians but by people who are not on the front lines, who do not have to worry about whether I’m infecting my family or myself,” he said. “If a company cannot support physicians during the toughest times, to me there’s a significant question of integrity.”

Another Alteon physician said he had been planning to ask for time off to go help out in New York, where the coronavirus outbreak is the worst in the nation. Now he has no paid time off, and he thinks his employer won’t support him if he gets sick. He said if his pay drops he’ll have to look for a new job.

“I have a huge loan payment. I have rent. I have groceries. I’m not going to sacrifice my life for when I get sick and they’re going to say, ‘You were replaceable,’” the physician said. “I cannot believe they did that to us.”

Claire Perlman and Maryam Jameel contributed reporting.

Update, April 1, 2020: This article was updated to add details from a follow-up memo that was sent to Alteon employees after publication and to add the name of a second private-equity investor in Alteon, New Mountain Capital.

This article was produced by ProPublica. You can read the original version here.

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Photo credit: Canva – Putting on an alter ego can help boost confidence.

Health, Well-being

Psychologists say the best trick for building confidence is to create a superhero-like alter ego

Not confident? Make a persona that is.

Erik Barnes

6/24/2026

Whether it’s giving a presentation at work or mustering up the courage to ask someone out on a date, many people struggle with confidence. People worry about being liked or whether they can pull off certain feats. They wish they could be someone else who has the confidence they lack. Well, according to some psychologists, you can.

Psychologists have found that people can develop an alter ego to help boost confidence and achieve desired results.

Give yourself comic book-level confidence

“One of the least appreciated realities about confidence is that very few people develop confidence based upon how they feel before acting,” Kat Grassetti, clinical director and co-founder at Monima Wellness Center, told GOOD. “The value in an alter ego lies within giving the individual permission to leap to act before their confidence has caught up.”

This isn’t unlike modern comic book superheroes like Spider-Man. Whether in the comics, films, or television shows, Peter Parker is riddled with anxiety and struggles with confidence and self-esteem. However, when he becomes his alter ego, Spider-Man, he is outgoing and quippy. As the story progresses, Parker slowly becomes just as personable, confident, and competent as his web-slinging alter ego.

There’s science to back this up, but with different superhero labeling. Child psychologist Rachel E. White’s study of children’s perseverance and confidence found what researchers dubbed “The Batman Effect.” The study showed that children who adopted an alter ego or character, like Batman, stuck with a boring task longer than those who thought in the first or third person. White also got similar results when asking children to concentrate on a complex card game. She found that portraying a character with greater concentration improved their executive function.

You’re still you, and that’s a good thing

Having an alter ego can create self-distance and provide an outsider’s perspective on a situation or task. After all, “you” aren’t preparing for the big speech or tackling a problem; your alter ego is. But it’s important to note that, in the end, your alter ego is still you.

“The alter ego does not create a new personality; rather, it allows an individual to tap into their existing strength, which often remains hidden from them due to anxiety, self-doubt, or fear of being judged,” said Grassetti.

Putting on an alter ego has helped many celebrities when they felt their confidence dwindle or when trying something new. Beyoncé adopted her “Sasha Fierce” persona to rid herself of nerves before going onstage. Before hosting The Late Show as his true self, Stephen Colbert donned an alter ego as an over-the-top staunch conservative. This allowed him to showcase his satirical skills and confidently challenge the powerful. Over time, though, these people let those personas go after their true selves were ready to do the heavy lifting.

You are still responsible

Alter egos can only do so much for so long, though. For example, rapper Eminem (Marshall Mathers) has shared that he created his “Slim Shady” persona. It helped instill confidence and creative freedom without concern about blowback. While the alter ego is credited with helping fuel his initial success, Mathers also blamed the persona for causing strife in an interview with an AI version of “Slim Shady.”

That’s the thing Grassetti and other psychologists note: The alter ego is just a tool to help build confidence, not a crutch.

“When the gap between the alter ego and the true self closes as quickly as possible, then the confidence will be sustained,” said Grassetti. “However, if an individual relies heavily on a secondary persona for confidence, this type of confidence can also be conditional (or fragile), and therefore much harder to sustain.”

So if you struggle with confidence, it may be worth thinking about developing an alter ego that has the qualities you’re looking for. However, it’s important to realize that, in the end, the alter ego’s actions, thoughts, confidence, and other attributes are actually your own. You are responsible for your alter ego and what it does, for better or worse.

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Photo credit: Canva – Stickers can be beneficial for adults as well as kids.

Health, Well-being

5 ways how stickers psychologically boost the lives of grown adults

Stickers can do more than look fun and cool.

Erik Barnes

6/22/2026

We tend to associate stickers with childhood. As kids, we put them all over our rooms, furniture, books and notebooks, and wherever else our little hands could stick them. Yet, you have probably seen stickers being used and loved by adults as much, if not more, than kids. They can be found on water bottles, laptops, car bumpers, journals, and many other surfaces. You may even know an adult who uses a sticker chart like an elementary school kid does to keep track of their daily tasks. So, what gives?

Why do adults love stickers? It turns out that there is psychology behind why many adults still love to stick stickers everywhere. Psychology professionals have reached out to GOOD to share some of the reasons why adult brains benefit from having and using stickers.

Accountability awards

Much like with children, many adults turn to stickers as an easy way to stay motivated to commit to a task or achieve a goal. While youngsters turn to sticker charts for reading goals or eating vegetables, adults can use them to motivate themselves to hit the gym or keep up with their budget. It may sound like an innocuous award, but that’s all it needs to be.

“Small simple tokens or rewards like stickers often cause an instant dopamine rush that leaves us feeling a sense of joy or happiness even if it might be small or fleeting,” said psychology professor and licensed therapist Jillian Amodio.

“In my work as a psychologist, I often encourage clients to use sticker charts, simple grids where you put stickers up when you complete a task,” said registered psychologist Rod Mitchell. “I’ve had many clients who tried positive self-talk, only to find it slid off. Stickers worked for them.”

It may sound immature on the surface, but what worked to establish good behaviors or habits as a kid can sometimes be just as effective for a grown-up.

“I had one client who was very resistant to the idea, viewing it as childish,” Mitchell added. “He came back the following week and sheepishly told me that the sticker chart had worked like a charm.”

Progress markers

“In addition to creating a sense of accomplishment, seeing a sticker placed on a calendar, chart, or planner after achieving a goal can create a visual history of success,” said Dr. Lori Bohn, medical director at Voyager Recovery Center. “This history can motivate an individual to continue to work towards additional goals.”

So the benefit of sticker charts isn’t just the dopamine rush, but encouragement. A person can look back at the progress they made, and any “failure” they see becomes an anomaly. It’s why many folks have created sticker charts for things as basic as eating healthy foods to more complex struggles like sobriety.

“The stickers on the chart serve as small badges of who you are and what you did,” said Mitchell. “A client I had who was struggling to make time for his kids now looks back on a chart full of stickers and knows that he’s become the family man he wanted to be.”

An easy form of expression

Placing a sticker on a laptop or water bottle you use daily also allows us to express ourselves. That expression can be as insightful as a political message or as simple as “I like SpongeBob.” It can communicate to others what you’re all about without even speaking a word.

“Stickers appeal to adults because they often offer an opportunity for self expression and trigger a sense of nostalgia,” said Amodio. “They can also serve social purposes when they speak to people who share similar interests, values, or devotion to a cause.”

The same logic applies to why many people use digital stickers and emojis when texting or posting on social media.

Psychologically instill civic duty

So how powerful are stickers? According to extensive research, very. One sticker standout is they get people to the polls. The “I Voted” sticker folks receive after they vote is a great motivator. They allow folks to feel that dopamine hit after voting, while advertising to others to vote. Stickers can be a reward for voters, a reminder to those who plan on submitting their ballot, or provide FOMO (fear of missing out) to those who don’t vote.

“It tells other individuals what the person did (voted), what the person values (voting), and what type of individual they perceive themselves to be (a voter),” said Dr. Bohn. “Social psychologists have shown that people are heavily influenced by social norms. In many cases, people rely on other people to help them understand if their behavior is acceptable or not.”

It may feel like mental manipulation to get people to vote (because it is) but it’s important to note that the sticker doesn’t endorse any particular bill or candidate. It just endorses participation.

Affordable artwork

“Stickers are also visually appealing which creates a pleasurable response in the brain as well,” said Amodio.

Stickers are used by adults because they like how they look. They’re an inexpensive and convenient form of artwork to display. They can easily be put in a book, on a wall, or most other surfaces. They don’t take too much space and are cheaper than paintings, sculptures, and other artwork.

Many independent artists have turned their work into stickers. It’s a way to keep making a living while also making it affordable for people to purchase their art. Sticker art also benefits the brains of the artists and their supporters alike. It’s just like any other art piece you can display.

There are many valid and beneficial reasons why grown adults happily use stickers. The act as a boost, a motivator, and a way to express yourself in one. If you’re already a fan, keep on stickin’.

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Photo credit: Hamilton Health Sciences – Exosomes helped heal severe facial burns with less scarring.

Care, Health

Student with severe facial burns from a frat house fire healed through new innovative treatment

Exosomes could change how we treat various maladies and disease.

Erik Barnes

6/22/2026

A university student who suffered severe facial burns has remarkably healed thanks to what is being called a world-first biological treatment.

On December 2, 2025, 18-year-old Kaitlyn Jeffrey was caught in a fire at the Pi Kappa Alpha frat house at Western University in Canada. The fire was caused after rubbing alcohol had been thrown onto a lit torch. Kaitlyn was one of the five people rushed to the hospital for injuries. She suffered serious burns after her face and hair had been set ablaze.

A new treatment

Usually, treatment for such burns would require a skin graft, but the burn unit at Hamilton Health Services wanted to try something different. While skin grafting is helpful, the end result isn’t always ideal. Skin grafting can be a slow process that ends with scarring and often a patch-like appearance on the patient.

“My vision for Kaitlin was to avoid skin graft surgery to her face and neck at any cost,” said Dr. Marc Jeschke, medical director of the hospital’s regional burn program and vice-president of research and innovation at HHS. “You can do the best graft on the planet, but you won’t return the skin to normal.”

With Kaitlyn’s and her family’s permission, Dr. Jeschke sent an urgent application to Health Canada for a new type of treatment. After Health Canada approved, the doctors proceeded to give Kaitlyn an exosome treatment for her facial burns. The results were a rousing success.

What are exosomes?

Exosomes, or extracellular vesicles (EcVs), are present in almost all cells, tissues, and body fluids. They’re tiny vesicles released naturally by nearly all types of cells, carrying proteins, lipids, and genetic material. They essentially carry these “packages” of material and send signals from one cell to another to regulate their behavior. They’re not only being tested for medical applications like this one, but are a part of a skin care trend as well. While exosomes had been studied for burn research, they haven’t been tested on humans before.

One trillion exosomes were collected and injected into Kaitlyn’s injured areas over the course of two treatments. This helped her cells coordinate in rapidly healing and repairing her facial tissue. The treatments also significantly reduced inflammation.

Astounding healing and new possibilities

After she had healed, Katilyn was amazed and grateful at the result.

“It’s honestly a miracle,” she said. “Being injured in the fire has also had a deep impact on my mental health, and it’s something I’m continuing to deal with. But having such good results, particularly to my face, is helping me move forward.”

Exosomes are still being researched for other potential medicinal applications. They are being tested to see how well they could modulate immune responses and deliver biomarkers. This could help combat cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and cancer among other ailments. Time and research will tell whether exosomes can help those patients like they helped Kaitlyn.

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