Reeling from scandal, hospital names interim president

ST. PETERSBURG — Effective Feb. 18, Tom Kmetz will become interim president of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

In December, then-President Jonathan Ellen and several other top executives resigned from their posts after a Tampa Bay Times investigation that revealed substandard surgical practices at the St. Petersburg hospital’s Heart Institute. The deficiencies led to a tripling of the mortality rate of heart surgery patients from 2015 to 2017.

According to a press release, Kmetz most recently served as division president of Women’s and Children’s Services at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Ky. He also served as president of Norton Children’s Hospital for 10 years.

“Tom is well known as a collaborative, inclusive leader and has decades of experience at the helm of hospitals dedicated to the care of children,” states Kevin Sowers, president of Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine, in the release. “Most importantly, Tom is deeply committed to supporting a culture where patient safety is the priority and excellence of care is a shared mission. He also understands the critically important role that children’s hospitals play in the life of their communities.”

Sowers, the release states, will lead a national search for a permanent president of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

“I feel tremendously privileged to have a role in helping this beloved hospital move forward into its next chapter,” Kmetz states in the release. “I will be deeply committed to supporting a culture where patient safety continues to be the top priority, where each member of the All Children’s community feels empowered and encouraged to speak up and speak out, and where the excellence of care is a shared mission.”