UTMB Faculty Senate Minutes

February 10, 2020

The meeting was called to order at 4:30pm, by Dr. Nikos Vasilakis, Faculty Senate Chair

Academic Enterprise Service Center Update – Charles Mouton, MD, MS, MBA, EVP, Provost and Dean, SOM, Loren Skinner, VP and Chief Administrative Office, Provost Administration and Michelle Moreno, Chief of Staff, Provost Administration
Dr. Mouton presented a PowerPoint to the Senators.  Here are some highlights from his presentation.
Why does it exist?
Improved Turnaround Times
Combined forms and approval reduce wait times for reimbursements and approvals  
Iterative information gathering is lessened – information is collected one time at the beginning of the transaction
Reduced Administrative Burden
Number of required approvals in each workflow reduced
Updates to technology reduces the administrative burden (e.g. electronic signatures, faster information sharing)
Reduced Risk
Reduced manual entry and information re-entry, reduce keystroke errors
Standardization across forms and policy adherence reduces risk while increasing compliance, and often leads to expense reduction

Dr. Mouton had presented a slide of the Focus Areas, within HR, Purchasing and Travel.
The AE Service Center’s website has sections on: FAQs; Step-by-step videos for various types of travel requests; Faculty Quick Guide; and a Student Quick Guide and the link: https://www.utmb.edu/aeservicecenter/
Since the AE Service Center started, they have improved the processes such as:
Check for duplicate entries and redundancies
Notify requestors of PO numbers
Actively monitor the full lifecycle of a purchase request

Dr. Mouton updated the Senators on the Warehouse Functions and presented:
Asset/Capital Management
Sodexo will maintain asset tagging (part of UTMB’s current contract)
Buyers to communicate with end-user to ensure the equipment is delivered once the end-user is prepared to receive it
Biohazard Boxes
Currently sourced directly through TDCJ; will continue to be delivered with adequate stock in CSW
Blue Bag Recycling Program
Storage location changing from the warehouse to the CSW
Sodexo will dispose of sealed and zip-tied blue recycle bags
Clinics
No impact to research from operational changes at clinics due to warehouse closure
Dialysis
UTMB looking to partner with Medline
Dry Ice
Praxair will potentially mange dry ice with liquid nitrogen and medical gases
In emergency situations, campus demand will be determined and communicated by Praxair
Fed-Ex/UPS Shipments
For research, will ship to 24th and Strand; Off-island will receive shipments directly
GNL and X-Ray Equipment remain at the 14th and Strand warehouse with full dedicated staff
All GNL and Research packages will ship to 14th and Strand
Research buyers will ship directly to 14th and Strand
Isolation Gowns
Ordering of gowns moving from CES to Supply Chain Operations
Will remain stored on 5th floor, Jennie Sealy (current storage) and be distributed by CES
End-user = no changes from current to future state
Liquid Nitrogen
The large nitrogen tank remains at the 14th and Strand warehouse
Praxair is also available to maintain liquid nitrogen as part of the medical gas partnership
In emergency situations, campus demand will be determined and communicated to Praxair
Medical/Air Gases
UTMB is considering partnering with Praxair for medical gas management (on-site assessment week of February 10th)
Surplus
Options include remaining as-is, partnering with sister institution and outsourcing to a third party
Today’s Business Solutions Desktop Delivery
Deliver directly to the final destination for all non-research, non-GNL buildings (correct L codes will be critically important)

Immediate Horizon
Technology Launch of the Procurement Module
Includes in-depth review of the IHII system which has supported some of our UTMB researchers over the past 10 years
Ease of use → used to help finalize the Procurement Module Launch (e.g., PI or lab personnel can log-in for updates as regards Requisition and PO issuance)
Launch will include multiple training sessions 
Website will include useful FAQs and “how to” resources

Update on Information Security & Privacy Compliance Committee – Senator Claudia Hilton
Senator Hilton informed that the committee had a meeting today and it was announced that the Department of Education, had a FERPA complaint from 2017, stating a faculty member had publicly posted a student’s grade histogram, which ended up being considered a violation of the student’s privacy, since only that one student had failed the course. This made it obvious which histogram was hers. UTMB was required to change the posting policy and was not fined. Also for Care Link, which is a program that allows sharing of medical records across medical facilities, the sharing of UTMB records with other medical facilities has been temporarily withheld because of the concern that patients are not always aware what they are signing and the extensiveness of the sharing might be considered a privacy violation. 

Chair Announcements – Nikos Vasilakis
Dr. Vasilakis stated that he and Dr. Leonard recently attended a UTSYS Fac meeting. Topics included: Elsevier contract is up, we may be partnering with other Universities; Federal parental leave, Title IX; Drs. Kinsky and Vasilakis, from the Council of vice chairs, are initiating a white paper on how to engage and attract physician scientists to perform research in an environment that is almost exclusively built on the clinical enterprise of seeing patients and then they will proceed and present to the CRO who will provide it to leadership; UTMB and MD Anderson; Day Care update; HR to implement a pilot study in how each interact with each other, aggressive behavior, etc. Dr. Urban will attend an upcoming Faculty Senate meeting, to talk about different topics.  We still want to discuss with leadership the evaluations on leadership.

Committees Update
Clinical – Discussing the faculty lounge and if and what perks will come with this location; clinical demoralization and compensation plan and capping the salaries of the high producers to pay others, Power is not real time, bonuses are paid out quarterly and faculty turnover.
Education – Working on roadmap for HEC
Research – Inviting Dr. Urban to upcoming meeting.
University – 1) Day Care, 2) Leadership evals, 3) Non MD medical practitioners at clinical facilities having the opportunity to become faculty members for better collaborations, and 4) who is qualified to handle blood transfusions in (one of the UTMB Policy Revisions, IHOP – 09.13.29) (handled by RN or licensed practitioner) is vague. Dr. Leonard will submit suggestions for revision to Cecily Martinez.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:13 pm.