Leadership Message: Quality first: enhancing patient care, expanding access

Dear Colleagues,

Quality of care is the heartbeat of UC Davis Health – it’s what turns expertise into impact. Every day, patients trust us in their most vulnerable moments, and that trust demands excellence.

By relentlessly elevating safety, compassion, innovation, and outcomes of our care, we don’t just treat illness – we transform lives, strengthen communities, and set a new standard for what health care can and should provide.

On this front, we recognize and celebrate the career contributions of Dr. Gregory Maynard, Chief Quality Officer at UC Davis Health, and Dr. Jeffery Wajda, Chief Health Information Officer and Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, both of whom will be retiring in early January. They have been instrumental in advancing high standards of care throughout our health system for many years.

Throughout his career, Dr. Maynard has advanced the cause of quality and safety in patient care – not only within our institution, but across the national landscape of academic medicine. And, Dr. Wajda’s vision and expertise have demonstrated dedication, innovation, and thoughtfulness – bridging the worlds of medicine and technology to enhance how we deliver high-quality care.

As we enter the New Year, we will build on their work and our foundational strengths by advancing innovation and empowering teams to ensure that quality remains a defining priority for every patient, every day, well into the future.

While our mission is complex in many aspects, it is fundamentally simple at its core – we are in the people business. We want UC Davis Health to be the best place to be a patient and the best place to be a nurse, doctor, learner, or other valued member of our health care team. People are at the heart of everything we do to create the best outcomes for all.

Still, in terms of reaching the best outcomes, we do employ leading-edge information technology and registry tools as part of our overall approach – including programs like Vizient, U.S. News & World Report, Leapfrog, and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). As we adapt to the changing landscape of data and analytics, we’re also ushering in cultural change that will lead to improvements in how we digest information to create insight and improve care for patients.

One note worth mentioning are the upcoming quarterly Leapfrog ratings.  We are in the process of rejoining this program after a hiatus – and we’ll be rejoining the other UC’s who are already reporting their data to Leapfrog.  In our assessment, the ratings about to come forward will show improvement over the past, but still will not fully reflect our true performance. The next set of quarterly ratings coming out subsequently in 2026 should better reflect our engagement and be a more accurate assessment of our quality efforts.

My role as Chief Clinical Officer for our health system involves engagement on quality of care, safety improvements, increasing access to care, resource stewardship, advocacy for others, and organizational change. I’m excited about the opportunities ahead of all of us, and I’ll be refocusing on these avenues of work after serving this past year in the role of interim vice chancellor for human health sciences.

Ultimately, our growth and the provision of increased access to care for patients is only positive if we simultaneously maintain or even enhance our quality and safety. Quality and safety cannot, and will not, be sacrificed for growth. Maintaining or improving quality and safety while increasing access demands that we are wise in the use of resources – what I refer to as “resource stewardship.” Patients and families increasingly expect us to meet them where they are and when they need us in new ways every day – we cannot accomplish that if we aren’t smart with our resources. So, it should be painfully clear that there is much for us to do!

As we celebrate the holidays, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to every member of our UC Davis Health community. Your dedication, compassion, and excellence inspire me every day. I wish you and your loved ones a joyful, restorative holiday season, and a New Year filled with peace.

Stay well,

Bruce Lee Hall, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S.
Chief Clinical Officer, UC Davis Health
Interim Vice Chancellor for Human Health Sciences