Hubris Seems to be Flying High at UPMC
The Trib reported last Sunday (May 6, 2007) that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has leased a second corporate jet. The second jet is a Bombardier Global Express valued at between $30 million and $50 million with a monthly lease payment estimated at $280,000.
A UPMC spokesman said it is needed because it "can carry more people and avoid refueling." The jets are going to be used to take staff to UPMC operations in four foreign countries -- a high-profile hospital in Italy, cancer centers in Ireland and England and an emergency care center in Qatar.
The Trib also offered a tortured detailing of how much it would cost to fly commercially to all of these foreign locales. The bottom line was not convincing that a corporate jet is necessary, appropriate or cost-justified.
UPMC now is the largest private employer in Pennsylvania. And when it came time to gather quotes from the business and civic community about this issue, it seemed like knees went to jelly. Cliff Shannon, president of SMC Business Council, said he would question the use only if the physicians and workers are being transported to engage in activities that aren't related to patient care. Shannon continued: "If there are patients at the other end who need their timely attention, I don't know that I could criticize that." Cliff Shannon has been vocal on issues that affect health-care costs and affordability of health insurance.
Please spare us this nonsense. When the Trib queried three other academic medical centers with care centers abroad -- Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins International and M.D. Anderson Center -- it was learned that all of their physician and executive officials fly on commercial aircraft. Anyone with a wit of understanding regarding the needs for moving academic physician and executive personnel around the world knows that commercial aviation is quite satisfactory.
When former President Clinton was asked why he got involved entertaining the sexual ministrations of Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office of the White House, he gave one of the clearest answers possible: I did it for the most arrogant of all reasons -- because I could.
You cannot blame UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff for these excesses; this sort of thing has to be approved by the board of directors. Indeed, the genesis of this idea to lease $30 million to $50 million jets may have originated somewhere else in the organization. It was done for the most arrogant of all reasons: They could.
When Mr. Romoff survived moving a $10 million book of advertising business out of Pittsburgh and giving the contract to a company in which his brother serves as a principal, it was obvious that there was nothing the board of directors would not do to keep Romoff happy.
The Trib article stated the following:
"Private jet firms say leased and chartered jets are popular among business executives who want to avoid the hassles of flying commercial. Travelers can take off on relatively short notice, avoid long security lines and have room to conduct meetings or sleep, said Dan Stainer, director of marketing for Voyager Jet Center, a West Mifflin-based firm. 'You arrive at your destination refreshed,' Stainer said. 'You can go to a meeting, and we can have you back in time for dinner at home.'"
God forbid that anyone at UPMC would have to endure the same indignities that the consuming Pittsburgh public faces daily at Pittsburgh International Airport.
I wish I could think of a word more apt than absurd. I cannot. Here are three reasons UPMC should not be leasing corporate jets:
1. UPMC is a community treasure. Romoff and his mentor, Dr. Thomas Detre, are both strategic geniuses. They took UPMC and the affiliated medical school from obscurity to national prominence. One of their greatest assets in achieving these great heights was the tax-exempt status available to them to serve the eleemosynary requirements of a grateful community. Sen. Charles Grassley has been fishing for a good reason to take away the tax-exempt status of hospitals; this is the "poster child" of abuse that he has been looking for and it was so avoidable.
2. There is a dubious mathematical and financial equation for determining whether or not a corporate jet is justified. Let's just assume UPMC passed this test. Pittsburgh is still a conservative town with people who will never understand why the gentry of UPMC need a jet to squire them around the world. Those who are inside the industry know that there is no "patient care" justification for corporate jets. In mathematical terms, this is hubris squared.
3. What kind of message does this send to "Joe Six-pack" who cannot afford health insurance or can barely meet his co-insurance and deductibles for medications and visits to his primary care physician? It demonstrates a lack of judgment and sensitivity to the people who pay the bills that have turned UPMC into a corporate giant. It might benefit the consciousness of Jeff Romoff and his minions if they flew commercial and sat next to their customers and sought their advice and counsel with respect to the issues that worry the consuming public.
Do not expect this situation to change. According to the Trib article, some models of the Bombardier Global Express "can seat 19 passengers and feature personal DVD players, a separate conference area and plush leather seats that can be converted to beds."
Tonight when UPMC officials streak across the Atlantic like Greek epicureans opening bottles of champagne and the attendants serve gourmet cuisine, many of Pittsburgh's citizens will be going through the drive-thru at Wendy's picking up a small chili without cheese and a small Diet Coke trying to cut corners to face their co-pays at the Eckerd pharmacy later in the evening.
There will be a day of reckoning. This is the kind of excess that the "average Joe" can understand. He may not be able to do anything about it but someone in a position to do so will. It cannot come a day too soon.
Have you ever had that sick, sinking feeling when you are embarrassed for someone else because he does not have the good sense to be embarrassed for himself? Well, when we look up in the sky and see UPMC officials disappear into the sunset in their Bombardier Global Express, many of us will be embarrassed for them; for they do not seem to have the self-awareness to be embarrassed for themselves.
Jan Jennings
Republished with Permission from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
