On a recent walk through the musty, now-gutted eighth floor of University Medical Center of El Paso, newly-appointed hospital CEO Maria Zampini felt a sense of nostalgia as she passed the empty rooms that administration once occupied.
Those offices are set for renovations into patient observation rooms, one of the projects in the $396.6 million bond El Paso County voters approved in 2024.
Zampini stepped into her old corner office, recalling the rumble of helicopters transporting trauma patients landing on the adjacent rooftop helipad. She has worked at the hospital for more than 30 years, starting as a director of guest services when UMC was known as Thomason General Hospital.
Following a restructuring of the El Paso County Hospital District this spring, the former chief operating officer is now the first woman to lead as chief executive officer of El Paso’s only public hospital.
Jacon Cintron previously led the hospital as president and CEO of the El Paso County Hospital District, which oversees UMC and its network of health clinics, El Paso Children’s Hospital and El Paso Health, a nonprofit health insurance provider.
In April, however, Cintron announced in a memo to UMC staff that the hospital district’s leadership was being restructured: He would remain head of the district, but Zampini would take lead over UMC in the newly created CEO position.
This move is consistent with the hospital district’s organizational model. Both El Paso Children’s Hospital and El Paso Health have their own CEOs.
Zampini, who previously made about $349,000 a year as COO, will now be paid $565,400 – a 62% raise, a spokesperson for UMC confirmed. Cintron retained his more than $1 million salary.
The UMC board of managers, appointed by the El Paso County Commissioners Court, approves CEO salaries. The commissioners approve the hospital district’s budget, but not compensation.
The hospital district as a whole is budgeted for $1.9 billion in expenses in fiscal year 2026 and slightly less in revenue. Though UMC is expecting an increase in inpatient and outpatient volume, cuts to Medicaid payments mean UMC and other hospitals with a high proportion of low-income patients project to spend more on uncompensated care.
In 2025, UMC recorded more than 19,000 inpatient visits, more than 99,000 emergency room visits and more than 1 million outpatient visits, according to its annual report. The hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the region.
“Short term, we need to get the $397 million bond on budget and on time,” Zampini said. “So that’s what we’re putting a lot of focus on because it’s going to open up access to care for the community.”
Update on taxpayer-funded bond projects
In the former physicians lounge of the eighth floor, Zampini looked out the window and gestured at where the upcoming taxpayer-funded bond projects would be built.
There’s $30 million for the upcoming comprehensive cancer center spearheaded by Texas Tech Health El Paso, whose students train at UMC. There’s the geriatric clinic where patients can be seen by a geriatrician, pick up prescription medication, receive audiology services, get lab work and go to rehabilitation all under the same roof. The geriatric clinic is probably a year away from breaking ground, Zampini estimated.
“My parents are in their 80s and they now see one of our geriatricians, but I remember when they were in their mid-70s … I used to think, ‘God, where am I going to take them?’” Zampini said. “I was worried if I was going to be able to have access to care because even if you have insurance, it’s not that easy to get access because El Paso doesn’t have the number of physicians and health care that it needs for a population of our size.”
The third floor of the UMC main hospital will house a $24.5 million burn center. Zampini said UMC has already trained nurses and begun hiring staff, including the appointment of surgeon Dr. Philip Fidler to serve as director of the burn center.
Previously, patients had to travel long distances out of town for burn treatment that meets American Burn Association-verified standards. UMC receives an average of 90 to 100 burn patients each year, but since the hiring of Fidler to develop the upcoming burn center, UMC is now able to retain about 70% of patients who meet referral criteria, according to Dr. Alan Tyroch, UMC chief of surgery and trauma medical director.
Employee retention and hiring
Zampini said staffing the expanded services is a priority, from hiring nurses for the new eighth-floor observation rooms to recruiting a fourth geriatrician.
UMC serves as a teaching hospital to students from Texas Tech Health, the University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Community College and other affiliated schools. TMore than 3,000 students come through UMC in a year. Maintaining that relationship with schools is important for recruiting graduates to stay in El Paso for work, she said.
In 2023, UMC raised its minimum wage to $15. Zampini said she did not know when UMC would raise wages again, but “that’s always a consideration.” As part of its retention efforts, Zampini said merit raises are based on performance reviews and UMC conducts satisfaction surveys for physicians, associates and patients.
UMC has a turnover rate of 10% so far this fiscal year, part of a decline since a fiscal year 2021 spike in turnovers.
Zampini said she most looks forward to seeing the completion of the bond projects. The additional observation rooms mean UMC will be able to admit more patients and prepare them for surgeries, she said.
Every time UMC offers a new service, such as an electrophysiology lab or specialist, the service fills up because there’s such a demand for health care in El Paso, Zampini said. The accessibility of health care affects not only the patient, but extends to their family taking care of them, she added.
“Really the reason I’ve been here so long is because you just feel that sense of satisfaction that we’re doing something,” Zampini said. “Look at how excited I get about it, right? But you’re changing the dynamic of the whole family because they’re going to feel everything that happens.”
The post New UMC CEO to lead hospital through growth, voter-approved bond projects appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More