James McIlvaine, the chairman of the Summa Health board of directors, explains that Cliff Deveny moved quickly up the list of candidates for chief executive. It is easy to see why. Deveny knows Summa and its outstanding legacy, from the perspective of a physician and as an executive in the system, serving most recently as the vice president for physician alignment and the president of the physician practice.
Deveny left that position in 2011 for an executive post at Catholic Health Initiatives in Colorado. In that way, too, his selection makes sense. He has spent time away, experiencing a different landscape, removed from the turmoil that has afflicted Summa of late.
So, Deveny knows the players, the importance of the institution to the community, and he comes without hard-to-remove baggage. That final item translates to taking care in removing conflicts of interest in his business ties, in particular with Dominic Bagnoli, the chief executive of US Acute Care Solutions. The firm now supplies the physicians in the emergency department, arriving after the sudden departure of the highly respected Summit Emergency Associates in a contract dispute at the end of the year.
To his credit, Deveny has said all the right things, about collaboration, a commitment to medical education and improving the culture at Summa. Which gets to the size of the task. It is formidable. The health system has fallen into a bad place.
If Summa’s finances are much stronger, making way for a $350 million investment in facilities, the clash with emergency physicians involved more than contract differences. It triggered a wider physician revolt and exposed a culture of fear and intimidation. Trust must be rebuilt with physicians, nurses and staff members. If the population health concept is sound, it must be viewed as the first purpose, quality of care maintained amid the changes.
Summa has a credibility problem. The continued carping about Summit Emergency Associates misses the larger trouble. Summa leaders insisted all was well enough in the emergency department. Then, a third party visited. The Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education put the emergency residency program on probation.
A law firm hired by Summa to assess conflicts of interest with US Acute Care Solutions found none. Yet the firm had its own conflicts.
Summa long admired as an anchor institution in Akron has suffered a heavy blow. That isn’t good for the city and region on many counts. The hope is, Cliff Deveny will be given room to restore relationships, morale and purpose — and succeed in doing so. He understands the Summa “narrative,” as he discussed with Amanda Garrett and Betty Lin-Fisher of the Beacon Journal. He cited what Summa owes the community, a health system that is once again the worthy object of praise.