CEO Update 15 August

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your amazing response to the employee engagement survey.

We set an ambitious goal for this year's survey, and I'm proud to say we reached it! Our 65% participation rate was the highest we've had for an engagement survey.

I'd like to reiterate that the responses - the "what," not the "who," - will be shared with my leadership team and me. We will carefully and thoughtfully review them, analyze the trends, share the results, and beyond that, identify meaningful actions and communicate progress. We will work with the survey administrator, Press Ganey, to help our leaders understand their data, engage their teams, and start translating feedback into meaningful action.

An organizational self-reflection such as this only works when we hear from as many voices as possible, and these are the most voices we've ever heard from. This couldn't have happened without the efforts of many, starting with Alexis Crean and her Office of Professional Well-Being and Engagement team. Alexis and her staff, including Allison O'Connor, Jill Hebert, and Lisa DeToma, did an outstanding job organizing and executing the survey over a four-week period, with consistent communication, creative interactive events to maintain visibility, and regular check-ins with deans, directors, and department heads to facilitate the cascading of information to their employees and encourage them to participate.

I'd also like to acknowledge the efforts of all the supervisors who heeded that call, and whose leadership contributed greatly to our late push on the survey's last day to get us to our goal, notably, Dr. Scott Allen, Michelle DeLayo, and Caroline DeFrancesco for their outreach across the hospital. Support from communications, marketing, IT, and environmental services was instrumental in the survey's success, as well as those who served as employee engagement ambassadors and student volunteers.

Most of all, I'd like to thank the more than 3,400 of you who took the time to respond to the survey. I look forward to reviewing the results and sharing them with you this fall.

This week my senior team and I continued our new Project Thrive work for FY 2027 (July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027). As a reminder, this year's Project Thrive refers to an effort to close a $53.4 M budget gap through both revenue generation and cost-sharing initiatives. It will be difficult, but I am optimistic that with us all working together we will accomplish the goal. The good news, as you can see below, is that we have identified $20.4 M, leaving a target of $33.9 M. Just to be clear, "identified" means we've identified where those funds will come from. The $20.4 M will however be "realized" in monthly amounts, with the full $20.4 M being realized by the end of the year.

Switching gears, this week we also had our Clinical Affairs Subcommittee meeting of the UConn Health Board of Directors, in which we gave an overview of the patient volumes in our hospital and University Medical Group (UMG). The summary is that we are continuing to grow rapidly. For example, as you can see from the graphic below, our ED volume is 3.2% ahead of last year.

Discharges in the hospital are 9.5% ahead of last year.

The surgeries in the main OR are 5.8% greater than last year.

The surgery center is 3.3% below budget but 2.4% ahead of last year.

UMG encounters are also ahead of last year by 2.8%.

As you may recall, on April 15, Solnit Hospital became a part of our John Dempsey Hospital. In terms of a quick update:

• During the transition, we became aware of significant staffing, facilities, and regulatory challenges at Solnit.
• In partnership with the Department of Children & Families (DCF) and the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), we are executing a comprehensive action plan to address these issues.
• The plan is heavily focused on ensuring Solnit Hospital has adequate staffing.
• We anticipate achieving meaningful operational stabilization within the next two to four months. However, some of the broader, long-term improvements - particularly those involving policy reforms, facility modernization, and infrastructure investments - will require longer to implement and fully realize.

I'd like to close with a different kind of patient letter, this one recently was published on the local news site Patch, about a local television news personality. Erika Arias of FOX 61 shares she came to our ED with what turned out to be appendicitis.

A huge thank you to the incredible surgeons, nurses, and staff at UConn Health who took such amazing care of me. A special shout-out to Carolyn and Duda on the 5th floor, who were so kind, compassionate, and reassuring throughout the entire experience.

Thank you to nurse Carolyn Zimmer and nurse aide Lyudmyla Voronchak, and to all involved in Erika's care, directly and indirectly.

And thank you, to all reading this, for the work you do.

Andrew C. Agwunobi, MD, MBA

Chief Executive Officer

EVP for Health Affairs

UConn Health

Dear Dr. Andy

I am writing to ask about institutional expectations for camera use during virtual meetings. Since COVID, many of us have become accustomed to fully virtual work, and norms around meeting participation - especially camera use - have shifted. I've noticed more participants keeping cameras off, which can make engagement difficult and feel like presenting to an empty room. I am also concerned about confidentiality. In meetings where sensitive or patient-related information may be discussed, it is hard to confirm who may be present off camera or within hearing distance. Are there institutional standards or recommendations around keeping cameras on, particularly for meetings involving confidential information? Thank you for your guidance.

Thank you for the question, which I have shared with several leaders. As VP of Human Resources Lakeesha Brown explains, virtual meetings have now become the norm and the use of Teams is meant to provide an experience similar to in-office engagement. You can "pop in" on a colleague via a video call rather than walking into their office, meet with your team in a virtual setting rather than a conference room, and attend trainings that would be otherwise hosted in a lecture hall. However, this virtual forum should be treated in the same way you would treat an in-person experience, especially when it comes to smaller group interactions. Think of it this way: Turning off your camera during an expected face-to-face interaction is very much like being in an in-person meeting and hiding under the table.

Lakeesha offers some basic rules of etiquette we can observe to ensure our interactions are professional, courteous, and observant of confidentiality standards.

Camera Expectations

• Keep cameras on during small-group meetings, leadership meetings, interviews, performance discussions, and team meetings unless otherwise approved.
• Cameras may be optional for large informational sessions, webinars, or training programs.
• Use professional virtual backgrounds when working from non-office locations (find them on our brand page via The Hub).
• Avoid distracting backgrounds, excessive movement, or multitasking while on camera.

Privacy and Confidentiality

• Conduct meetings involving confidential information in private locations.
• Protect all patient, employee, and organizational confidential information.
• Comply with applicable privacy requirements related to protected health information (PHI) or sensitive personally identifiable information (PII).
• Do not share meeting links with unauthorized individuals.
• Ensure screens containing sensitive information are not visible to unauthorized individuals.

Thank you for raising this and prompting this helpful discussion.

Have something you want to ask Dr. Andy? Submit your question on The Hub.(opens in new tab)

Hub Highlights

Our medical school is just out with its annual report.

Did you know about LiveSafe, an app that promotes safety on our campuses?

We reached our goal for participation in this year's employee engagement survey!

Plus, our medical school announces faculty senior rank appointments - Go to The Hub now for these and other announcements and features and stay up to date with the latest UConn Health news!