UTMB Faculty Senate

February 13, 2012

4:30 – 6:00 pm

MINUTES

 

Present:  Drs. S. Croisant, Chair, S. Al-Arabi, B. Ameredes, L. Cain, C. Cooper, J. Davis, S. Elsaid, L. Farmer, J. Graham, A. Jones, J. LeDuc, J. McBride, N. Mendias, H. Pine, E. Protas, C. St. John, C. Utsey, H. West, D. Wild and D. Young

 

Absent:  Drs. J. Badalamenti, K. Beal, B. Bryant, P. Crane, R. Ellis, C. Houston, T. Riall, S. Sarna and C. Wiggs

 

I.      The meeting was called to order at 4:35 pm by Dr. Sharon Croisant, Faculty Senate Chair.

 

II.    The Approval of the January 9, 2012 minutes.  The minutes of January 9, 2012 were voted and approved by email on February 2, 2012.

 

III.  Provost, VP and Dean’s Report

 

Interim Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – report provided by Dr. Cooper.

Interim Dean, School of Medicine, Dr. Donald Prough – report provided by Dr. Prough.

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

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

 

IV. Reports by Faculty Senate Chair

·      Dr. Croisant distributed her Faculty Senate Chair’s Report which was discussed.  Some of the topics include:  The SOM Dean search is progressing and we will hopefully have a list from the Search firm this month.  The HRI awards were discussed and to date we have five nominees, please encourage your colleagues to apply.  At the January FAC meeting, they discussed the campus reports, as well as the students’ list of issues and suggestions related to the graduate student time off, among other concerns.  The FAC Academic Affairs and Faculty Quality Committee will take this up.  The BoR meetings structures have changed.  The FAC has petitioned for faculty representation on the BoR as is the case now with students.  The Post Tenure Review Policy was reviewed and the FAC Governance Committee in response to the Regents revised version vs. the version recommended by the FAC task force including the Chancellor and UT System attorneys.  They voted to accept the Task Force version, Rule 31102.  Chancellor Cigarroa met with Mr. Obama in December, who is very concerned about minimizing student debt. Under the leadership of Pedro Reyes, the System is making good progress on the Framework through working groups.  UT research cyber-infrastructure group has established data repositories at both Arlington and the UT-Austin TACC.  Investigators from all UT campuses will be able to store their data in the same repository.

 

V. UTMB Financial Update – William R. Elger, CPA, Executive Vice President, Chief Business and Finance Officer

Mr. Elger presented the Senate with a PowerPoint presentation. Some highlights from his presentation include:             

             Challenges We Are Currently Managing:

                          General Revenue Reductions

                          for the FY12-13 biennium (~20%)           $57.1M             ($114.2M biennium)

 

                          Professional Revenue

                          Medicaid Reduction (~2%)                        $0.5M

                          TEFRA and CHIP Prenatal Reduction       $3.2M

 

                          School of Medicine Contracts

                          Family Planning Reduction                        $6.6M

 

                          Hospital Contracts

                          Correctional Care Reduction                   $46.6M             ($96.0M biennium)       

                          Medicaid Reduction (~2%)                        $2.6M

                          Indigent Care Fund                                    $3.5M

 

                                                                                                     

                                                                                                      Capital                                                      $22M

                          (increase in portion of CSW that               

                          UTMB will need to fund)

 

                          UTMB Connect                                         $12M

 

                          Research                                                   $650K

                          Reduction in NIH Salary Cap

                          (using Executive Level II instead of EL I)

 

                          Elimination of Expense Inflation             $1.5M

                          (increases in all NIH award issued in FY12;

                          NIH is also no longer awarding inflation in out years)

 

             December, FY12 YTD Results

 

 

             Spending Prior Year Balances

·           Considerable misinformation about spending prior year balances

·           No accounting rules that preclude or prohibit spending prior year balances

·           Have developed a process to allow spending of prior year balances.

            

             Fund Balance Form – form linked here

 

 

Questions were asked about the possibility of a percentage of research indirects coming back to the department or to individual researchers.  Senators discussed pertinent issues such as increased faculty workload and less administrative support since Ike.  Because of the shortages, lab personnel are spending more time writing grants and doing more administrative work as opposed to basic research.  Mr. Elger acknowledged that this is understood and that proposed solutions include the possibility of adding staff members to larger groups or departments who can assist with these types of tasks.

            

VI.  Quality of Healthcare, Joint Commission and CMS Performance Measures – Steve Quach, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Health System Administration

             Dr. Quach presented the Senate with a PowerPoint presentation.  Some highlights from his presentation include:

                         What is a Core Measure?

·           Set of performance measures by which hospital are judged in terms of quality.

·           Born from the Joint Commission ORYX initiative in 1995.

·           In partnership with CMS and NQF.

 

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS)

          Communication with nurses

          Communication with doctors

          Responsiveness of hospital staff

          Pain management

          Communication about medicines

          Discharge information

          Cleanliness of hospitals environment

          Quietness of hospital environment

          Overall rating of hospital

          Willingness to recommend hospital

CMS Readmission Payment Reduction

·         Applies 30 day all cause readmission rates for Acute, MI, Heart Failure, and Pneumonia

·         Beginning in FY13, prior year readmissions in excess of average will result in a payment withhold equivalent to the excess charges

·         Withhold will be capped as follows:

       FY13 – 1% of all inpatient payments

       FY14 – 2% of all inpatient payments

       FY15 – 3% of all inpatient payments

 

                          HAC Payment Policy

                                   Foreign Object Retained After Surgery

                                   Air Embolism

                                   Blood Incompatibility

                                   Stage III and IV Pressure Ulcers

                                   Falls and Trauma

                                   Manifestations of poor glycemic control

                                   Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

                                   Vascular Catheter-Associated Infection

                                   Deep Vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism

                                   Certain Surgical Site Infections

 

                         Value Based Purchasing

                                   CMS will withhold a portion of a hospital’s payment

                                   The hospital will earn back that withhold based on quality of care and quality of service

                                   Potential to lose entire withhold or earn more than the original withhold

 

                         Value Based Purchasing Calculation

 

 

                         Value to UTMB

 

 

 

Senators posed questions about premature discharges and if there are red flags built into the electronic medical record to prevent errors, specifically in real time rather than after the fact.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 pm.  The Subcommittees met following the general meeting.