UTMB Faculty Senate

April 12, 2010

4:30 – 6:00 pm

MINUTES

Present: Drs. Wisnewski, Chair, I. Boldogh, V. Brooke, J. Broussard, E. Hannigan, S. Higgs, S. Jain, C. Jansen, M. Kanuth, J. LeDuc, L. Massey, N. Mendias, M. O’Keefe, S. Petronella, D. Powell, K. Sandor, E. Smith, D. Solanki, H. Spratt, C. Utsey, S. Watowich, P. Watson and C. Wigg

Absent: Drs. Y. Davila, S. Gerik, D. Munsell, P. Singh and A. Torres

Special Guest: Ms. Donna Sollenberger

I. The meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Charlotte Wisnewski, Faculty Senate Chair.

II. Approval of Minutes of March 8, 2010. Minutes of March 8, 2010, were accepted as written and voted on by email sent March 26, 2010.

III. Provost’s and Dean’s Report

Provost - Dr. Pam Watson reported for Garland Anderson

· Faculty hiring for fall and three chair positions, Neurology, Pharmacology and Radiology are in the process. Waiting for budget process and then will inform the senate of the number of faculty.

Dean, School of Health Professions – Dr Utsey for Dr. Protas, report provided by Dr. Protas.

School of Health Profession Dean’s Report (click on link for report).

Dean, School of Nursing and Vice President for Education – report provided by Dr. Watson.

School of Nursing Dean’s Report and UTMB Vice President for Education Report (click on link for report).

IV. Faculty Compensation Committee – Dr. Christine Baker, Associate Professor and Chair – Faculty Compensation Committee

Dr. Baker gave a presentation and provided the senators with a copy of the IHOP Policy 5.5.7 Faculty Compensation Committee. This committee was mandated by UT System. This committee is now gathering information, from HR on market analysis as well as from the deans on the processes used to determine faculty salaries. The committee consists of representation from all four schools with six from SOM, two from each of the GSBS, SHP and SON schools and 5 ex-officio members. They will meet at least quarterly and to date have met two times. The members are: Drs. C. Baker-SHP, S. Carlton-SOM, L. Elferink-GSBS, K. Fiandt-SON, S. Peloquin-SHP, J. Peterson-GSBS, C. Phillips-SON, T. Riall-SOM, V. Sierpina-SOM, R. Snyder-SOM, C. Thomas-SOM, C. Turley-SOM. Ex officio members are: Dr. P. Watson and Dr. G. Anderson, Mr. Elger, Mr. Slocum and Ms. Amanda Porter, HR, Dir Compensation and Benefits. The committee was formed by Dr. Callender from faculty nominated by the Faculty Senate, Council of Deans and Dr. Callender. This committee will be reviewing salary ranges, percentile for National Standard, retention post Ike, etc. Dr. Callender met with the committee and gave the charge.

V. State of the UTMB Health Care System – Ms. Donna Sollenberger, Executive Vice President and CEO, UTMB Health System

In Mrs. Sollenberger’s presentation, she delivered a PowerPoint updating the Senators of Life after Hurricane Ike, and discussed the work and improvements that have been completed since the storm. Quoting Robert Kriegel, Mrs. Sollenberger commented: “Make no small plans, for they have no power to stir around your soul.  The key is to have a dream that inspires us to go beyond limits.” Mrs. Sollenberger was discussing how and why, UTMB will focus on being the best in the future.

Some highlights from Mrs. Sollenberger’s presentation are as follows:

We want to, and UTMB will, achieve excellence through the passionate work of our employees. The ED is an area that displayed examples of strong statistics - opening with an average of twenty admissions daily, an average length of stay of three hours, and only a half of a percent left without being seen.

An ongoing challenge for the Health System will be to work on cutting losses due to Correctional Managed Care.  We spent twelve million dollars on CMC that we did not recover, and as an organization we are unable to afford those losses. We will look at and work on changing our relationship with CMC, in order to receive payment on a regular basis. 

The Cafeteria reopened in July 2009, and the feedback from employees, patients and patients’ families showed that people were pleased with the selection. 

Mrs. Sollenberger also discussed new UTMB clinics and ambulatory leadership.  She presented a slide indicating where the new UTMB clinics are opening on the mainland, and mentioned that the location of the clinics will be convenient for patients in the area. Diana Browning is our new Chief Ambulatory Operations Officer.

During its first three months, the new Dermatology clinic reported treating a significant number of first-time UTMB patients.

Press-Ganey data indicates that our patient satisfaction scores are improving since last September.  This data category of all academic hospitals (UHC Peer Group) is used by 2,500 institutions to compare rankings. Mrs. Sollenberger commented that we will eventually want to be in the 90th percentile. Areas that are mentioned several times by patients in the comment section of the reports as needing improvement are as follows: access is difficult, having a person answer the phone, call-backs from the front desk or the physician, and physicians not spending enough time with the patients.

We are accredited by the Joint Commission through January 2013, and have received extensions of CMS site visits for bariatric and lung, which will be coming up in the next fiscal year.

Discussing the future of UTMB, Mrs. Sollenberger used a quote from Max Dupree: “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining who we are.” Mrs. Sollenberger then talked about new facilities that have recently opened or will soon open. She mentioned the new UTMB Specialty Care Center at Victory Lakes that will open in May 2010. Bonnie Benkula is the Associate VP for Victory Lakes. She also mentioned Pearland Imaging, which opened last month (March, 2010). Mrs. Sollenberger stated that Radiation Oncology and PET/CT in Galveston will be reestablished sometime in the summer of 2010.

In terms of new construction on the island: the Board of Regents approved the new Surgical Tower plans; the Clinical services building is being planned; the John Sealy modernization project is set to start; and after the new Tower is built, Jennie Sealy will be taken down. For off-island, approval for new clinics at Brittany Bay, Bay Colony Pediatrics and Diabetes Center, and Internal Medicine Specialties Center are in development.

Health System Goals and FY10-11 Tactics:

Goal #1: Revise Health System capacity management plans and implement needed changes to optimize the use of health care facilities and support revenue growth and academic program needs. 

Goal #2: Recruit, retain and develop a highly skilled work force in order to achieve and sustain excellence in patient care and services.

Goal #3: Become known nationally and globally as a leader in health care delivery and biomedical science by developing or expanding priority clinical and research facilities and programs.

Goal #4: Achieve and sustain top-quartile performance in patient outcomes, quality, satisfaction and service.

Goal #5: Enhance clinical programs in select service lines so that they are destination sites for patients and referring physicians.

Planning for new Product/Service Lines include: Diabetes and metabolic diseases (business planning underway), solid tumor oncology, heart and vascular - with an emphasis on electrophysiology and end stage heart failure, and Neuroscience - with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

The floor was open for discussion and Dr. Smith asked about St. Luke’s hospital. Mrs. Sollenberger stated that they were having financial difficulties and there is a group looking to buy it, and that we are interested in their plans. 

Next, Dr. Powell asked about the Pediatric beds, and Mrs. Sollenberger’s response was that we are working on a plan. 

Dr. Sandor then asked about the Jennie Sealy building replacement and Pharmacy location, and Mrs. Sollenberger stated that the new building will be 25 feet above or higher, and that the utilities will be placed up higher. 

Dr. Jansen inquired about UTMB and the Texas Medical Center plans.  Mrs. Sollenberger stated that we are working on several things, one of which is our library to share some of the costs for journals (we have rare books); she also mentioned that TMC has a brand new laundry facility and that we could collaborate with them for sterile processing.

Dr. Wigg asked about the Psychiatric beds, and Mrs. Sollenberger responded that that is not currently in the plans. 

Dr. Massey inquired about the CMC loss, and Mrs. Sollenberger responded that some of the numbers driving this was the result of staffing requirements and some complex conditions. 

Lastly, Dr. Watowich asked about the margin: Does it cover overhead, and what is a good level to shoot for?  Mrs. Sollenberger stated three percent, and that the UT System looks at how many dollars we are making. She also stated that we need to invest in capital and right now we are leanly staffed. 

IV. Reports by Faculty Senate Officers/Chairs

· Dr. Wisnewski announced that an employee open house for the new UTMB Specialty Care Center at Victory Lakes is from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 17 and you will be able to tour the facility. Then from 1-3 p.m., the general public is welcome to attend the open house.

· Dr. Utsey distributed the motion tracking form which will be posted on our website and updated monthly and asked if anyone had any questions or comments.

· Dr. Utsey notified the senate that the Ombudsman position will be advertised in Academic Medicine.

Dr. Sandor reported for the Faculty Quality Committee: Nothing to report.

Dr. Munsell reported for the IHOP Committee: Still ongoing will be sending out a batch soon.

Dr. Wigg reported for the Governance Committee: For the Ombudsman position, they have some names and inquired as to whom they should provide them to and someone indicated they should be given to the Search Committee.

Dr. Jansen reported for the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee: Faculty orientation. The SHP has a mentoring program, the SON does not have an active link and the SOM and GSBS did not have official orientation in place. Dr. LeDuc has details with export licenses, example, if a researcher wanted to buy or sell equipment abroad; they currently have to apply themselves and are personally responsible. Someone stated that Frances Streeter is an expert to work on this issue.

A motion for adjournment was made, seconded and approved. Meeting adjourned at 6:01 pm. The Committees met following the meeting.