In defense of UVA Health’s leaders

Like so many people, I was surprised and shocked to read the U.Va. faculty letter of no confidence in Dr. Craig Kent and Dr. Melina Kibbe. This is especially disturbing since I have served on various UVA Health boards over the past 30 years. It is my opinion that our health system is better today than it has been at any time over that period. And it is evolving into one of the truly top health systems in the nation. Drs. Kent and Kibbe must be given an enormous amount of credit for this accomplishment.

In full disclosure, I am not writing this letter as a member of the UVA Health System Board. I am writing it as a friend of the University of Virginia who believes that there is another side to this story which needs to be understood.

There are two aspects of this letter which need to be addressed. First, it comes from 128 people. Our health system has 18,000 employees. Therefore, the writers represent less than 1/10 of 1% of our employees. And, based on an outpouring of emails to President Ryan, the UVA Health System Board and the Board of Visitors, the allegations of these anonymous writers do not reflect the opinions of a broad cross section of our faculty and staff. Instead, they express widespread support for Drs. Kent and Kibbe.

Second, facts made by these anonymous writers are simply not true.

• They speak of safety issues. UVA Health has recently received A ratings in safety audits for its four hospitals. Our Vizient mortality ratios are at an all-time low suggesting we are saving 2-3 out of 10 patients that were otherwise not expected to live.
• As to an exodus of faculty talent, this allegation can be disputed by Drs. Kent and Kibbe’s successful recruitment of outstanding faculty from some of the nation’s top academic medical centers. If our work environment were so toxic, these people would not have joined our faculty. Furthermore, the data does not support this claim. UVA Health has a 5.1% turnover rate as compared with the national average of 8.3%. Also, I should add that Forbes magazine recently rated UVA Health as one of the nation’s top employers.
• As to attacking the values of the University of Virginia, I find these allegations to be totally erroneous. Drs. Kent and Kibbe have made building a strong organizational culture a cornerstone of UVA Health’s new 10-year strategic plan. From what I hear from a cross-section of employees in our health system, the culture has improved dramatically over the past few years.
• The assertion that there is excessive spending on C-suite executives is naive. It is true that new senior-level staff have been hired. However, most of it has been to prepare UVA Health for an even stronger future. Dr. Kent hired an outstanding chief strategy officer to lead our first-ever enterprise-wide strategic plan. Prior to this, we were possibly the only major academic medical center that did not have such a critically important internal function. Instead, we relied on expensive outside consultants. We added staff to create our first ever UVA Health Leadership Institute.  This is another investment in our future.  It will provide us with a tremendous pipeline of outstanding future leaders.  And as an occasional lecturer in the program, I can attest that it has been a tremendous morale boost for our participants.
• Other allegations in this letter are vehemently denied by the large number of UVA Health System employees who are emailing us in support of Drs. Kent and Kibbe.

Although not addressed by the anonymous writers, Drs. Kent and Kibbe have been extraordinarily successful in raising financial support. The School of Medicine has attracted a record amount of research funding. This research is an investment in the future of health outcomes. For example, the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology could be a game-changer for not only our community but for the world.

There is another important consideration which is overlooked in this letter. UVA Health is one of only a handful of health systems in the nation which maintained profitability throughout the pandemic. This is a major management accomplishment for which Dr. Kent must be commended. Had we not maintained profitability, our ability to fund construction and acquisitions could have been handicapped. This would have become an impediment to our ability to provide world-class healthcare to our service areas.

Finally, I have a serious philosophical concern about these anonymous writers.  The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. Often attributed to it is the phrase “First do no harm.”  These anonymous writers are doing harm to UVA Health and, in turn, to our patients. If a small cabal of people hiding behind anonymity can force outstanding leaders out of U.Va., it will make it extremely difficult to recruit outstanding new physicians, nurses, technicians, and administrators. It will make it extremely difficult to attract important strategic alliances. And it will make it extremely difficult to raise needed philanthropic support. If these things happen, the quality of health care in our community will be harmed. To me, those who inflict harm to the patients of UVA Health may be violating the Hippocratic Oath.

William G. Crutchfield Jr.
Health Services Foundation Board, 1993-1997; U.Va. Board of Visitors, 1997-2005; UVA Health System Board, 2018-present.

Crutchfield is the founder and CEO of Charlottesville’s Crutchfield Corp. He is a U.Va. graduate and a member of the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.