Past executives of USC University Hospital — now Keck Hospital of USC — visited Keck Medical Center of USC for a reunion on Oct. 29.
In attendance were the hospital’s founding CEO Gerald Bosworth, former COO Curt Schroeder, former CFO Mike Parsons, as well as former associate administrator, nursing services Ann DeChairo-Marino and former associate administrator, professional services Eric Alcorn.
The group met with Marty Sargeant, MBA, CEO of Keck Medical Center, and Tammy Capretta, RN, MPH, chief transformation and risk officer for Keck Medicine of USC, who presented on Keck Medicine’s growth and evolution since USC acquired USC University Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Hospital in 2008.
Afterwards, the group toured Keck Medical Center’s state-of-the-art facilities, including the new Center for Advanced Endoscopy laboratory in the Willametta Keck Day Healthcare Center 2 (HC2).
The origins of Keck Medicine of USC
The former executives, who led the hospital while it was owned and operated by Tenet Healthcare, reminisced about groundbreaking moments in the health system’s history and how their own careers intertwined with its development.
“This was the group that designed and envisioned this out,” Capretta said. “The beautiful beginnings of what we’re so fortunate to be living here today started with you all.”
Prior to his role at USC University Hospital, Bosworth worked as CEO at Los Angeles County Hospital (now Los Angeles General Medical Center), where he oversaw the work of USC medical faculty and students.
The relationships he built in that role, he said, later proved essential when he became the new hospital’s leader, helping to implement the USC physicians’ expertise into a new clinical setting.
“I knew the faculty and the faculty knew me,” he said. “There was a level of trust between us.”
At the reunion, Bosworth and his former colleagues recalled how the opening of USC University Hospital in 1991 signaled a new era for USC’s health services, as the university’s clinical offerings began to emphasize highly specialized services like cardiac care, organ transplantation and neurosciences.
According to Bosworth, this emphasis laid the groundwork for Keck Medical Center’s current status as a regional leader in these services, including its esteem as a transfer center for highly complex cases.
A legacy of top-quality services
In their presentations to the group, Capretta and Sargeant both emphasized how the former executives’ groundwork continues to influence Keck Medicine’s ongoing progress and vision for the future.
“Thank you for setting us up for great success,” Sargeant said. “Your work has been and continues to be instrumental in enabling us to serve a great many patients.”
According to Capretta, as Keck Medicine’s services become more readily available to patients at ambulatory locations and community hospitals across Southern California, “we are proud of the access that these locations provide to patients across the greater Southern California region and we are proud of the culture we have built to support these services. It is a culture of respect and excellence.”
Capretta highlighted the health system’s ten specialty rankings in the 2023-24 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals issue, as well as Keck Medical Center’s status as a top transfer center for specialty care, as examples of its continued excellence.
Sargeant shared Keck Hospital’s recent top quality and outcomes rating from The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as well as plans for a state-of-the-art cardiovascular heart hospital to be built within Keck Hospital.
“The evolution here is amazing,” Bosworth said, following Capretta and Sargeant’s presentations. “It’s absolutely astounding.”
—Michael Juliani