The University of California, Irvine, has tapped two of its own for the top spots of its medical operations.
Terry Belmont now is permanent chief executive of UCI Medical Center, the university’s teaching hospital in Orange and one of the county’s largest.
Belmont got the permanent post after being appointed as interim chief in early 2009. At that time, he replaced Maureen Zehntner, who retired.
UC Irvine also named Ralph Clayman, a longtime professor, as dean of its School of Medicine. Clayman replaced David Bailey, who left in July.
Bailey also served as vice chancellor for health affairs, a position the university isn’t filling. That makes Clayman UCI’s highest ranking healthcare official.
Clayman, who wasn’t available for comment last week, had served as the medical school interim dean since March. He joined UCI in 2002 and founded the medical school’s urology department.
Clayman’s appointment and that of Belmont await approval from the UC Board of Regents.
Prior to coming to UCI, Clayman was professor of surgery and radiology and medical director of the Midwest Stone Institute at Washington University in St. Louis.
UCI decided to elevate Belmont and Clayman to permanent posts to keep a sense of continuity within the hospital and medical school.
“It just became clear that it was really important to this organization to have stability and leadership,” Belmont said. “We were the right people at the right time.”
UCI chose not to do a national search after consulting with the medical school’s leadership, according to Belmont.
Belmont said he is planning to continue to build on several things he’s started as interim chief executive.
Hospital officials are emphasizing “specialty knowledge” that Belmont said could keep patients from having to go to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Loma Linda University Medical Center or University Of California, San Diego Medical Center.
UCI Medical Center has seen growth in neurosciences and cancer care, according to Belmont.
Contracts
The hospital just completed contracts with insurers Anthem Blue Cross and Aetna Inc. and still is talking with Blue Shield of California, he said.
It also has a contract with UnitedHealth Group Inc., which has a big operation in Cypress.
The new chief executive said he’s trying to come up with ways to prevent problems at the hospital. UCI Medical Center has been ensnared in several scandals, including mismanagement in its liver transplant program, the sale of cadavers from its willed body program and stolen embryos in its fertility practice.
“As you know, we’ve had a number of issues that have come up over the years,” Belmont said. “Human errors sometimes occur. But we should have systems of safety, systems of oversight that keep these human errors from going to a point where they create problems.”
Belmont inherited and has continued a big expansion of UCI Medical Center.
Last year, the first phase of a $556 million, 482,428-square-foot hospital campus opened in Orange. The second phase is expected to open later this year.
UCI Medical Center has some 4,000 workers, 400 licensed beds and yearly operating revenue of $600 million.
Before coming to UCI, Belmont ran Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children’s Hospital, part of Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Medical Centers.
Earlier in his career, he ran St. Joseph Hospital-Orange and served as a senior vice president at Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and the Inland Empire.
