UCI Medical Center’s search for a permanent chief executive to run the county’s largest hospital will take a while and stands to be involved, according to university officials and healthcare recruiters.
The focus now is on finding a vice chancellor to oversee the hospital in Orange and the School of Medicine on campus at the University of California, Irvine.
The vice chancellor would report to Michael Drake, who started as UC Irvine’s chancellor last summer. Drake himself is an ophthalmologist who served as vice president for health affairs for the University of California before coming to UCI.
No Search Yet
“No search is under way yet for a permanent chief executive” for the hospital, UCI spokesman Tom Vasich said.
The hospital’s top job is a secondary thought for now. But it’s a big job: UCI Medical Center is the county’s largest hospital by revenue, beds and patients.
For the 12 months through September, UCI Medical Center had revenue of $523 million.
Maureen Zehntner, UCI Medical Center’s former chief operating officer, is serving as interim chief executive. She stepped up in January.
That’s when former hospital boss Ralph Cygan was put on leave. He resigned on Jan. 31 after nearly six years on the job. Cygan remains on the medical school faculty.
The search for a hospital chief executive needs to go beyond the basics, according to recruiters.
Crisis Manager
The candidate “will have to be very good at crisis management,” said Carole Campbell, a director with Dallas-based Stanton Chase International, an executive search firm.
Campbell, a nurse by training, has done hospital executive recruiting for some 25 years.
Cygan’s resignation was prompted by allegations of mismanagement at the teaching hospital’s liver transplant program.
“The integrity of the institution is shaken in the public’s eye,” Campbell said. “The new chief executive will have a big job re-establishing credibility with the internal constituency as well as the community.”
Finding a leader for a teaching hospital “is a different animal because of the academic environment,” Campbell said.
“Town and gown” syndrome,dealing with both university and community politics,could be challenging for some, she said.
If UCI opts for a national search, “an outside candidate with the proper credentials can bring in a fresh pair of eyes,” said Linda Klute, healthcare practice leader for Tatum LLC, an Atlanta-based executive search firm.
Such a candidate would have more interest in moving forward “and have less interest in what was in the past,” according to Klute.
University officials shut down UCI Medical Center’s liver program in November after federal regulators yanked its certification amid charges of mismanagement and poor care.
Regulators are investigating the hospital.
More than 30 patients died while waiting for transplants during the past two years. UCI Medical Center rejected livers that other transplant programs accepted, according to investigators.
Past Scandals
It wasn’t the first big scandal for UCI Medical Center.
In 1995, doctors who worked at the university’s Center for Reproductive Health were accused of stealing patients’ eggs and implanting them in other women. Two of those doctors eventually fled the U.S., while another was convicted of felony mail fraud.
In 1997, the university closed its organ and tissue bank after issues with poor record keeping and storage emerged, along with audit revelations that dying cancer patients were improperly charged up to $9,000 to participate in clinical trials.
The school isn’t planning a crisis public relations program to counter fallout from the liver program, UCI’s Vasich said.
Last week, an advertisement touting “top hospital” awards won by the medical center ran in the Business Journal. Vasich said that spot was bought in advance and has ran for the past three years.
