"Repositioning and Rebranding" While UMDNJ Burns (Money)

The management of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was back in the harsh media spotlight again. UMDNJ has appeared frequently in posts on this blog. The university now is operating under a federal deferred prosecution agreement with the supervision of a federal monitor (see recent posts here, here, here and here.) We had previously discussed allegations that UMDNJ had offered no-bid contracts, at times requiring no work, to the politically connected; had paid for lobbyists and made political contributions, even though UMDNJ is a state institution; and seemed to be run by political bosses rather than health care professionals. (See post here, with links to previous posts.) Most recently, the costs of all these management shenanigans was estimated to be a whopping $243 million (see post here).

The indefatigable Newark Star-Ledger reported that yet another UMDNJ trustee has resigned. This time the issue was

the federal monitor overseeing the school concluded [trustee] Sterritt had committed ethical and legal violations by pressuring university officials to hire his brother, an admitted alcoholic who lost his license to practice law because of misconduct.

The monitor, former federal Judge Herbert J. Stern, said in the report that staffers within the university's human resources department complained that Sterritt was 'very involved' and 'persistent' in an effort to find his brother a position at UMDNJ -- which they considered unprofessional and unacceptable interference.

The report said UMDNJ staff felt pressure to find employment for Sterritt's brother 'at all costs,' noting he was eventually hired after the job requirements were loosened so he could qualify. However, he was paid at the higher salary of the titled position before it was downgraded, according to the monitor.

The article also cataloged all the other UMDNJ leaders who have left:

In the past eight months, the university has lost its president, who was pressured to leave by Corzine; three other trustees who left after tougher ethics rules were put in place banning even casual business relationships with the school; the dean of the university's School of Osteopathic Medicine and the university's senior vice president for academic affairs, who were both accused of abusing travel and expense accounts; and a senior associate dean, who was fired for abusing his position to help himself, friends and family -- including wielding his influence to get a daughter into medical school.

Meanwhile, the repurcussions of the university's huge financial losses continue. The Star-Ledger also reported that the university will lay off more than 100 staff, raise tuition at the medical and dental schools by four percent, and delay the opening of a new out-patient cancer center at the Newark campus. The interim president warned of "longer waits in the hospital's emergency room for non-critical cases. He predicted patients also will have to wait longer to get appointments at the hospital's clinics, as well as face delays for elective surgery."

But amazingly, despite these cuts, the Star-Ledger further reported that UMDNJ leadership had planned to spend about $2.5 million on a "marketing campaign to spruce up the image of the state's scandal-plagued medical university." This was "the second time the governor's office has killed an image campaign by UMDNJ that it found to be ill-timed or ill-conceived. An earlier media effort was quashed in January under pressure by then-Gov. Richard Codey." (See post here.) " The new plan was to resurrect elements of that plan, in a so-called 'repositioning and rebranding campaign' to highlight UMDNJ's research, aimed at attracting researchers, students and patients to the university's clinical services and its teaching hospital. It included many of the television commercials and print advertisements that had already been produced before the lid had been put on the original marketing effort, officials said." The plan was all set to go forward, but after the Star-Ledger asked the state governor's office to comment on it, "the university was ordered to put the ad campaign on hold indefinitely. That request was made by Stuart Rabner, the governor's chief counsel, who told the university that while image improvement was important for UMDNJ, the $2.5 million expenditure would seem inappropriate at a time when the university was cutting jobs and programs to help address a $25.5 million budget deficit at UMDNJ's University Hospital. "

Ok, UMDNJ is operating under a deferred prosecution agreement, has lost $243 million to mismanagement and other administrative misadventures, has seen the departure of many of its top leaders, is running a deficit and forced to make severe cutbacks. So how do the current leaders respond? - by trying to run a marketing campaign of "repositioning and rebranding?" Is there no problem that can't be papered over by a little repositioning and rebranding?

One correspondent responded to the problems at one of the large pharmaceutical companies by wondering if that company had become "a marketing company that happens to make drugs." Has UMDNJ become "a marketing company that happens to be a health care university?"

Once again, the problem appears to be corporate culture. Health care organizations have attracted leaders who are more interested in marketing than in their fundamental missions. UMDNJ needs leaders who put mission before marketing. Leaders' papering over problems is what lead the university to its current sorry state.

Post Title → "Repositioning and Rebranding" While UMDNJ Burns (Money)

Another UMDNJ Leader Fired

After another brief hiatus, UMDNJ is back in the news again. The university now is operating under a federal deferred prosecution agreement with the supervision of a federal monitor (see most recent posts here, here and here.) We had previously discussed allegations that UMDNJ had offered no-bid contracts, at times requiring no work, to the politically connected; had paid for lobbyists and made political contributions, even though UMDNJ is a state institution; and seemed to be run by political bosses rather than health care professionals. (See post here, with links to previous posts.)

Our most recent post about UMDNJ was about a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid on the university's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, NJ responding to a tip that papers related to the school's relationship to New Jersey state Senator Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) were being shredded in the office of Bryant's political ally, Warren Wallace, the senior associate dean for academic and student affairs at the osteopathic school.

The redoubtable Newark Star-Ledger reported Friday the firing of Dean Wallace. Today, the paper reported on the federal monitor's findings that lead to the firing. These included:

Wallace, whose responsibilities include admissions, worked behind the scenes to get his daughter into medical school. The report says that in a highly unusual decision, the university granted her an interview even though she had failed to submit test scores and other information critical to admission. According to those who have been briefed on the report, his daughter's application did not include the Medical College Aptitude Test scores every medical student must take, letters of recommendation or her required essays on why she should be accepted. Some members of the admissions committee were upset she was even granted an interview. But two members of the school's admissions committee, who acknowledged being contacted beforehand by Wallace, gave her the highest possible interview score.

Records show Wallace interceded to help a friend and neighbor obtain a no-bid contract to provide exclusive cafeteria and catering services for the campus in Stratford worth more than $300,000 over the past three years. The report says Wallace received free meals from the catering service.

Wallace submitted nearly $3,000 in travel expenses through subordinates, who put in for petty cash reimbursements that then were handed over to Wallace. The scheme allowed him to sign off on his own expenses.

Computer files in his office reveal Wallace -- who is also a Gloucester County freeholder and chairman of the Delaware River and Bay Authority -- conducted extensive amounts of outside business while at UMDNJ.

Wallace now is just the latest in a series of UMDNJ leaders who have been forced out, including the former UMDNJ President, former Chair of the UMDNJ board of trustees, and the Dean of the School of Osteopathy.

[ADDENDUM (June 6, 2006): The report is out, and in it, according to the New York Times, federal monitor Herbert J Stern called Mr Wallace's activities "unethical at a minimum." Furthermore, the new chair of the UMDNJ board, Robert J DelTufo, called his behavior "ethically unsavory." And a UMDNJ spokeswoman said, "Dr Wallace's interference with the admissions process was unethical and unacceptable." The Newark Star-Ledger reported that New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine said, "I think it's time for Mr. Wallace to step aside from public life." And the Gloucester County Times revealed the report "states that before a May 15 admissions committee meeting, staff was directed by Wallace to announce to the committee that his daughter was a candidate and that upon acceptance would be interviewed by a member of the faculty who reports to Wallace." After the report was made publich, she withdrew her medical school application.]

As this scandal lurches from one lurid revelation to another, I wonder how difficult it must be for the many honest and hard-working faculty, students, and staff at the institution who continue to fulfill the university's mission, the same mission that was seemingly abandoned by too many of the university's former top leaders.
Perhaps the hope that the university will learn something collectively from this awful experience, and may emerge from this experience as a strong and honest institution again.

We can only hope that the health care community as a whole might learn something from UMDNJ's nightmare. Of course, the community will not learn a thing if it never hears about the story at all.

Thus, the continued envelopment of the UMDNJ story in the anechoic effect remains distressing. I have just searched using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google, and found absolutely not a single reference to UMDNJ's recent travails in any medical, health care, or health policy journal. The closest my search came was an article in the Spring issue of the Rhode Island American College of Physicians Governor's Newsletter, an article that I wrote.

One of the regular readers of Health Care Renewal suggested that it was frustrating to read so many postings about dreary goings on in health care unleavened by constructive suggestions about what could be done to improve things. Trying to suggest how to fix everything that has gone wrong with the leadership of UMDNJ may not be the place to start. But, instead, let me try this:

CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTION:
for the health care professionals reading this, how about writing the editor of your favorite general medical or health care journal, and ask why they have not discussed what has gone wrong at UMDNJ, and what the health care community can learn from these events.

[I would be happy to see others' constructive suggestions in the comments section.]

Post Title → Another UMDNJ Leader Fired