Paul Levy won't break silence
Beth Israel chief bars reporter from Ohio conference
By Christine McConville  |   Saturday, May 1, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Healthcare
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COLUMBUS, OHIO - Beth Israel chief Paul Levy - ducking questions about a mysterious personal transgression cited by the hospital board - preached "transparency" from the podium at an Ohio conference yesterday - but scrambled to keep a Herald reporter outside and urged the audience not to speak with her.

Levy even snapped a photograph of the reporter as she got off her flight - the same flight he took - so he could make sure conference organizers knew whom to bar from the event.

When asked at Logan International Airport before the flight if he'd comment on the matter, Levy said, "No" and then pointedly ignored the reporter.

After arriving in Columbus, Levy snapped the reporter's photo without permission, saying, "(Hospital spokeswoman) Judy (Glasser) wants to know what you look like."

"Are you staying at my hotel, too?" asked Levy, again refusing to comment on the "lapses of judgment" that has sparked an apology from him and undisclosed action by the board at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Yesterday, outside the Aladdin Shrine Center in Columbus, where the conference was held, most attendees declined to comment on Levy and his calls for transparency.

"He warned us you'd be out here," one audience member, who refused to give his name as he left the building, told a Herald reporter. "And he pretty much told us not to talk to you."

To the few hospital workers brave enough to break Levy's code of silence, the Hub hospital honcho's presentation, titled "Why Transparency is Important to Patient Safety," smacked of hypocrisy.

"What's the point of disclosure, if it's not full disclosure," said Susan Hall, a registered nurse who listened to Levy's speech. "It makes it seem like he's hiding something."

This week, Beth Israel's board of directors have held two meetings to discuss Levy's conduct after some members received an anonymous letter and investigated the charges in it. A hospital spokesman has refused to make the letter public.

After Monday's meeting, board Chairman Stephen B. Kay released a statement, saying "Levy did acknowledge lapses of judgment in a personal relationship, and the board is taking appropriate action."

In his only public comment on the matter, Levy released a cryptic note to Beth Israel staff, saying the board "conducted a review of my tenure here and found an instance in which I exercised poor judgment. I agree that the board's conclusion is accurate, and I have apologized to them."

Since then, the 59-year-old Levy has declined to comment or be interviewed. His daily blog, which has been praised as a model of hospital transparency, does not even include a posting with his statement on the matter.

Ohio Hospital Association spokeswoman Mary Yost said the group agreed to a request from Levy that media not be allowed into the conference. She also said he declined to be interviewed.

Hall said she thought Levy's speech, which ended with healthy applause from the 400-plus crowd, was interesting.

"He said that if you make a mistake, instead of pointing fingers, take responsibility," she said. "He talked a lot about accountability."