UK’s Doctor of Development: Michael Karpf Praised for Setting ‘New Tone’ at Facility

By Karla Ward, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

May 28–From the conference room adjoining his office at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Michael Karpf can see what is now only an expanse of red dirt but will one day be a new UK Chandler Hospital.

“I will watch this hospital go up brick by brick,” Karpf said as he gazed out his window on a recent morning.

It’s one of many transformations that have begun in the medical enterprise at UK since Karpf came to Lexington 31/2 years ago:

— The number of faculty in the College of Medicine has increased from 610 to 712.

— Operating revenues at the hospital are up 49 percent, and research funding is up 45 percent.

— UK has plans for a new academic medical campus across Limestone from the existing hospital and Kentucky Clinic.

— And this week, UK officials will break ground for the new hospital, which could cost $700 million by the time its two phases are finished.

“He was really able to … set a whole new tone,” said Dr. Richard Lofgren, the hospital’s chief medical officer, who also worked with Karpf at the University of Pittsburgh.

Karpf was brought in to the newly created position of executive vice president for health affairs at a time when the medical center had begun to lose key clinical faculty, and the hospital’s patient numbers were on the decline.

A primary problem was a disconnect between the hospital administration and the medical faculty, said Dr. Frederick de Beer, chairman of UK’s Department of Internal Medicine.

“It was a model that wasn’t working,” he said. “It was a divided house.”

Karpf’s job was to put in place a new governance structure that would unite the hospital, College of Medicine and physician practices under a common vision and set UK on the path to becoming a top 20 academic medical center.

High praise from peers

So far, his supporters say, Karpf has succeeded.

“He has the ability to read the typography and understand where you need to go,” then make it happen, Lofgren said.

Lofgren noted that when he came to UK 21/2 years ago, the medical center seemed “organizationally down,” but that has since turned around and then some, as UK has become a “magnet” for faculty recruits and medical school applicants.

UK President Lee Todd attributes the growth to “the trust level” that Karpf has built with physicians, both within the UK medical center and in rural communities where the university is working to strengthen relationships.

“He’s a very good communicator. He cares about the health care of Kentuckians,” Todd said.

Karpf also helped build support by opening the hospital’s financial books, a change that allowed employees to share in a “single financial vision,” said de Beer, who has worked at UK for 18 years and served on the committee that recruited Karpf.

He praised Karpf for his accessibility and integrity.

“He’s already ensuring that what was shaped will exist beyond him,” de Beer said. “That is great leadership.”

Karpf said he came to Kentucky because he liked the idea of being able to generate large-scale changes in a health system that affects many people’s lives.

“I get up in the morning to try to figure out how to do things right for health care,” he said. “I enjoy doing stuff that has a public good to it. … It’s a privilege to have that kind of job.”

Difficult times in L.A.

If the hospital system Karpf previously worked for in Los Angeles failed, he said, the rest of the health care market could quickly pick up the slack. But if UK fails, he said, “it’s a big problem for 2 million people.”

During his eight years at the University of California-Los Angeles, Karpf served as vice provost for hospital systems and was responsible for integrating the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center and Neuropsychiatric Hospital into a single corporate entity.

But when he left, the health system’s income was dropping, and a private consulting group brought in to assess the situation said the organization could face major losses if changes were not made. At the same time, the university was in the midst of building two hospitals to replace existing facilities.

Sergio Melgar, chief financial officer for UK HealthCare who also served as chief financial officer for the medical enterprise at UCLA before coming to UK in 2004, said the dour circumstances at UCLA were a result not of Karpf’s leadership, but of outside economic pressures.

“The health care market was an issue. The economy in California was an issue,” he said.

In response to a request for an interview, Dr. Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor of UCLA Medical Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine, issued a statement describing Karpf as “a knowledgeable, hard working and compassionate leader.”

“Running a major academic medical center is no easy task, especially in California, but Dr. Karpf worked diligently to meet the many challenges,” Levey said.

Karpf said he decided to leave UCLA because he grew frustrated that there was not a good structure in place for making difficult decisions.

“It was hard to get the faculty and the hospital administration on the same page,” he said.

“What I like here is that my job is to be the final referee.”

Melgar said Karpf was well-liked among the faculty at UCLA, and “the rank and file were absolutely crushed” when he decided to leave.

In addition to Lofgren and Melgar, some other former associates have followed Karpf to the Bluegrass.

Karpf lured Karen Riggs from UCLA to start UK’s Physician Liaison Program, which works with doctors and their staffs to resolve concerns regarding referrals to UK.

Like UCLA, UK has had “communications issues” between the health care enterprise and the doctors who support it. Riggs said her job is to work with doctors to find out what they need and help fill those needs.

“I like what Dr. Karpf is doing here,” she said. “It just feels good to be helping with all this.”

Karpf said he has promised Todd that he will remain at UK for at least five more years to see the first phase of the hospital building project through.

After that, even if he decides to do something else, he plans to stay in the Bluegrass, because he loves the lifestyle.

“I’ll always have a place in Kentucky,” he said.

Reach Karla Ward at (859) 231-3314 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3314.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

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