UNM Health Sciences Center – Billions of Public Dollars Spent – Sketchy Accountability at SOM, and ‘Filthy’ CMD Research Labs
Why the Spending and Operations of UNM Health Sciences Needs a Forensic and Programmatic Deep Dive by The State Legislature.
New Mexico has been facing healthcare workforce shortages for more than ten years. Could bad advice, shoddy procedures, and bullying at HSC operations be getting in the way of a solution?
Despite years of analysis by health care professionals at UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC), policymakers at the Roundhouse – both in the Executive and the Legislative branches of state government – continue to spin their tires in the mud.
When elected officials can’t fix something quickly they seem to focus on who to blame – and then seem to get lost or misled on their way back to finding solutions to the problems – the getting lost part may have a lot to do with a legislature that meets only sixty days one year and thirty days in the next year.
This needs to change. When it comes to their relationship with UNM HSC – legislators must demand more accountability.
Healthcare workforce problems are something UNM HSC officials should be experts about – or at least they should be able to offer significant direction and support to the state’s elected policymakers.
More than five years ago (at the end of the first year of Governor Michele Lujan Grisham’s first year in office, the Legislative Finance Committee noted,
“The state depends on the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (HSC) to educate doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to serve communities around the state. HSC also plays a critical role in delivering healthcare services.”
But a review of records reveals that UNM HSC and the UNM Health System is failing the state.
HSC Related Budgets Dwarf Balance of UNM Spending – with Little Oversight.
The annual operating and capital budget for the University of New Mexico for fiscal year 2024-25, is approximately $4.355 Billion.
About 71% of that budget is controlled by the UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC) and the UNM Health System.
UNM, UNM HSC, and the UNM Health System employ more than 17,500 New Mexicans – doctors, researchers, professors, sport personnel, nurses, janitors, certified assistants, social workers, hospital housekeepers, communications and media representatives and so on.
HSC and UNM Health System employ 72% of that UNM workforce – about 12,700 workers.
The HSC and the UNM Health System include the UNM Hospital, the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and other research and clinical care operations.
According to the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), the “UNM Health Sciences Center is funded outside of the funding formula and is not subject to the same performance incentives as other HEIs.” (HEI’s are the state of New Mexico’s higher education institutions.)
Up until about five months ago, and since about 2017, Mike Richards, MD was Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
He was recently appointed to the top position at HSC and the UNM Health System.
As the executive vice president of UNM Health Sciences and CEO of the UNM Health System, Mike Richards, MD, is now the guy in charge of departments that are spending more than $3 billion in the current UNM budget cycle of fiscal year 2024-25.
As The Candle reported back in August and September, UNM President Garnett S. Stokes, PhD., abruptly removed Richards’ predecessor, Dr. Douglas Ziedonis, placing him on “professional leave” until his appointment concluded in December.
Why the Abrupt Dismissal of Ziedonis?
The official statement from President Stokes indicated they needed a course direction to “advance the mission of fostering an ‘educated, healthy, and economically vigorous’ New Mexico.” [Emphasis added.]
And, referring to Richards, Stokes added in the announcement, “Mike has all my confidence that he will successfully lead the way accelerating our key strategic missions of expanding New Mexico’s health care workforce and providing safe, high-quality patient care.” [Emphasis added.]
No one at UNM referred to HSC’s failure for ten years to get the healthcare workforce fixed.
Suddenly, for Stokes and the Board of Regents, Richards was the guy who could fix things.
The question is where do his loyalties lie – will he be an Anthony Fauci, or a Ray Donovan?
With twenty-five years experience at HSC, Richards knew or should have known firsthand of the struggles of the healthcare workforce.
What had he done to advance the healthcare mission of state government at its premiere health institution during his stint as the guy in charge of clinical care?
Stokes did NOT set up a search committee to find the best candidate for a replacement of Ziedonis – something most university leaders typically establish.
Instead, she gave the permanent appointment to Richards, who had barley served a few months as the interim leader of HSC.
There is more to this story … The Candle will be reporting more on the UNM’s leaders who are trying to keep the information out of the public view.
But, despite a refusal by UNM leaders to answer any questions or agree to an interview with The Candle, we do have some very important information to report relative to the events leading up to Ziedonis’ departure.
Why the Sudden Settlement of Whistleblower Lawsuit?
“I have seen many laboratories and this was one of the worst … The lab was filthy and it appeared that the benches were never cleaned and that personnel simply moved to another bench when one was trashed. The CMD staff were resistant to Dr. Djaballah’s efforts to change lab practices to meet GLP [Good Laboratory Practice] standards …”
– UNM official communicating to another UNM medical leader.
Within a few weeks of Richards taking the reins at HSC, the Board of Regents was apparently convinced to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Hakim Djaballah, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in biochemistry and biotechnology.
The lawsuit alleged serious problems within the Center for Molecular Discovery, a UNM lab charged with discovering “new cancer-fighting drugs for the Cancer Center to use in its research and treatment.”
It also states that Dr. Djaballah was fired by UNM officials after he informed them of concerns of potential fraud and poor laboratory practices by his predecessor.
Djaballah’s lawsuit claimed that “many in the Cancer Center were also concerned the CMD had been employing poor laboratory practices, such as by failing to keep comprehensive records and allowing the lab space to become a total mess, cluttered with old equipment.”
UNM Board of Regents settled the lawsuit by paying $2.1 million … while not admitting to anything wrong that was alleged by Dr. Djaballah in the lawsuit.
The settlement also helped UNM in their efforts to contain any disclosure of problems at its CMD research labs.
UNM required him to drop his IPRA request in order to settle.
Perhaps the Board of Regents and HSC figured the IPRA request material might fade away into the sunset … instead of finding its way into the sunlight.
The Candle filed an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) request in mid-October for records that Djaballah had sought through his own IPRA request.
The UNM IPRA office has provided some of the documents that The Candle requested, however it is almost four months since the initial request was made, and the rest of the documents have not been provided.
It is likely the UNM attorneys are wrangling with trying to claim an attorney-client privilege or exception to the IPRA statute to prevent some of the information from becoming public.
Another response expected due Friday.
But documents The Candle obtained elsewhere show Djaballah was being harassed because he was trying to correct bad practices.
According to an account of one official associated with UNM, “there was a lack of transparency about the CMD finances, a situation that was aided and abetted by the pathology administration.“
The documents also reveal first hand accounts, such as “… The lab was filthy and it appeared that the benches were never cleaned and that personnel simply moved to another bench when one was trashed. The CMD staff were resistant to Dr. Djaballah’s efforts to change lab practices to meet GLP standards …” [Emphasis added.]
The next few articles will cover some new material, and will follow up on details about abuse and discrimination of personnel, poor research-record keeping, more on the filthy labs, and retaliation for reporting wrongdoing at HSC.
There is also more reporting to come about UNM medical leaders and alleged misuse of a relatively new medical device, that may have led to harm, including death, of patients under the UNM Health System’s care.
NOTE: Last week Richards and other senior UNM HSC leaders were at the Roundhouse lobbying legislators for $37 million for New Facility Plan & Design for the School of Medicine.
“What I really hope we achieve is support for some of the big educational projects that we’ve advanced. One of the most important of those is the replacement of our School of Medicine facility, which will allow us to double the size of our graduating classes within ten years.”
— Mike Richards, MD, MPA, Exec. Vice Pres., UNM HSC & CEO, UNM Health System
In this instance, words are NOT cheap.
There is likely a need for a new medical school facility.
But there is clearly a stronger need for elected officials to demand more access to (and detailed reporting from) the people who are in charge of the HSC operations.
Mistakes, failures can only be corrected, mitigated, or overcome with transparency and a commitment to robust oversight by legislators.
Which will lead to accountability.