Karen Feinstein Reflects on UPMC Board Service After New Presbyterian Hospital Milestone

A Time to Reminisce:

I attended the topping off ceremony for the new Presbyterian Hospital, and it was a moment to look back in order to look forward. About 32 years ago, I joined the board of Shadyside Hospital, an independent institution known for its quality of care and the compassion of its nursing team. Some of my fellow board members were third generation — meaning that their fathers and grandfathers (hopefully their grandmothers) had served in leadership positions. There was an extraordinary amount of pride in the institution and its reputation for excellent care.

Alas, the future of independent hospitals was doomed as large integrated systems came to dominate healthcare. Shadyside had to make some tough decisions regarding with whom to merge, how to protect its quality commitment, what could and should be negotiated.

Now I sit on the board of Shadyside, Presbyterian, Montefiore and Western hospitals as a result of the merger. I’ve dealt with issues like pandemics, automated care, robotic surgery, ChatGPT misinformation, EHRs and other items that were not on our agenda in the old Shadyside Board days.

And, the day of the topping off, I joined in the celebration of what promises to be a state-of-the-art, beautiful and functional facility. However, I learned some lessons from those early Shadyside years that are still relevant:

1. Value the reputation for quality and safety. Nurture it and make it real. Be ever vigilant for opportunities to increase safety and for challenges as well. Act decisively to address either.

2. Let your Board govern and trust the importance of their engagement in key decision making. Give them the tools to govern effectively and the real time, uncoded data to assess the current condition. Help them ensure adherence to mission.

3. Find clinical leaders who reflect both talent, intellect, and capability but also compassion and grace.

Thank you, Shadyside Hospital. I might well be overstating your Camelot years, but they did provide a window on what’s possible and raise my aspirations and expectations.

Karen Wolk Feinstein