Perspectives from Retired UH CEO Tom Zenty

KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW NOW, WAS HEALTH CARE THE RIGHT CAREER CHOICE FOR YOU?

Absolutely. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside extraordinarily gifted physicians, scientists, nurses and other caregivers, volunteers and board members who have made tremendous progress in leading the way in contemporary patient care, performing clinical procedures in ways never thought possible while remaining committed to improving the health of our communities. I’m so thankful that in my career I’ve had a front-row seat in watching the extraordinary commitment exhibited by literally hundreds of thousands of caregivers who are passionate about making a difference in the lives of those we serve.

WHAT ARE YOUR PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS AS CEO OF UH?

The achievements we’ve been able to realize are not “mine;” they’re “ours.” Our UH community is comprised of individuals dedicated to improving the lives of others, as demonstrated by our more than 28,000 brilliant UH caregivers, teachers, researchers, clinicians and volunteers. It’s the deep bench of talent we have assembled, representing clinical and nonclinical roles, and our ability to recruit, mentor and train the next generation of caregivers. It’s our proficiency in building a management structure comprised of hundreds of department chairs, institute leaders, division chiefs, vice presidents, directors and managers who guide our team of caregivers as they deliver upon our purpose to heal, our passion to teach and our promise to discover. It’s also our Boards of Directors who represent our community and guide our strategies to ensure we continue to achieve our mission, vision and values. It’s our philanthropic community, who helped us raise more than $2 billion to support our initiatives. It’s the cooperation of government, community and industry stakeholders who advocate for UH’s growth and ability to provide the highest quality care. And, it’s our patients and their families who entrust us with their care.

Together, we have improved the community’s health and well-being, conducted clinical and pharmaceutical research

that has led to breakthrough discoveries, enhanced care delivery and contemporary clinical practices. We have helped improve quality and access, shorten lengths of stay, expand care services, contribute billions of dollars in economic impact to our region, and build a missiondriven organization that has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies eight times since 2012.

HOW HAS YOUR VISION FOR UH EVOLVED OVER TIME?

With a legacy of caring for our community since 1866, it is important to preserve UH’s historical mission, vision and values while at the same time positioning our system to be successful in a contemporary environment where our industry continues to evolve. Through organic growth, acquisitions, member substitutions, new construction and joint ventures, we’ve been able to provide care closer to where our patients reside, improve outcomes, and offer the full continuum of services to support our broader community.

Leading-edge technology has been a facilitator in enhancing our care offerings. Accelerating clinical practice techniques and innovative procedures have helped shift more care to outpatient settings and shorten inpatient lengths of stay. Advances in our ability to care for patients at home rather than in an acute care or skilled nursing facility has far surpassed anyone’s expectations.

The health care industry is focusing now on coordination, prevention, wellness and appropriate intervention, not simply intervening at times of injury, illness or disease. As a result of this movement toward total lifelong care, UH is redefining the future of health care delivery. UH has invested heavily in advancing research in pharmaceuticals, immunotherapy, genetic testing, personalized medicine and clinical breakthroughs augmented by clinical trials that provide our patients with the most effective and contemporary pathways to improved health.

WHAT IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST REGARDING UH’S RESPONSE TO COVID-19?

The exceptional commitment to serve our community, displayed by every member of our UH team. Drs. Simon, Salata and Beck led this extraordinary effort as we stood up an incident command center, where UH caregivers from across the system assembled, working 24/7 to address emergent issues and needs. UH prioritized care access for our patients, quickly pivoting to provide more than 380,000 virtual visits when in-person care was limited. We set up COVID-19 testing at several UH locations. UH launched more than 180 interventional and observational clinical studies to gain understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19 as well as the impact and outcome of various therapeutic treatment options and investigational vaccines. We deployed new methods for health care delivery, such as remote monitoring and teamed up with manufacturers across the state to innovate avenues for procuring, producing and preserving personal protective equipment. And we embraced our community, ensuring families still had access to healthy food options when their traditional means were disrupted. We conducted hundreds of webinars to provide the latest information on the coronavirus in the community and to address concerns; and we launched playbooks to help our community with reopening and managing through COVID-19. We also effectively coordinated our efforts across our entire region with other health systems in a demonstration of solidarity to work together for the betterment of our community. The agile and collaborative nature of the UH team during this time fully illustrated our mission in action: To Heal. To Teach. To Discover, while showcasing our values of excellence, diversity, integrity, compassion and teamwork.