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Message
from the Dean: Integrating the clinical practice
Board
approves 5-year strategic plan
New
Dean's Fund for Research Collaboration
Update:
Leadership transitions
Communicators
group formed
Dedication
of Rosenbaum Neuroscience Library
Faculty
Spotlight: Drs. Ruth and Joseph Matarazzo
Policy
Spotlight: Dr. K. John McConnell
Students
place first in Portland Triathlon relay event
New
Research Center for Gender-Based Medicine
Dr.
Hall is 2007 Hatfield Fellow
Dr.
Scanlan receives Cope Scholar Award
Dr.
Hayes-Lattin receives Ulman Cancer Fund Hope Award
Unique
collaborative research project wins funding
Welcome
new faculty |
October 2007
Message from the Dean: Integrating the clinical
practice
 A core principle of Vision 2020 is to integrate our
missions in ways that capture and unleash the inherent
efficiency and creativity at their interface. A
significant initiative in this context will be the
integration of the clinical practice (including the OHSU
Medical Group) within the School of Medicine.
I
believe clinical integration is essential to our future
productivity and success.
In the short-term,
integration will reinforce our regulatory compliance
position. Specifically, new regulations recently passed
at the federal level (Stark II, Phase III) further
restrict the flow of funds between clinical entities.
Like the Anti-Kickback law, the new directives are
designed to ensure that the financial relationships
between referring providers (and their practice groups)
and referral recipients meet specific requirements,
including no incentives for such referrals. Legal issues
surrounding the regulations are complex and compliance
within our current clinical structure is difficult and
expensive.
From the long-term perspective,
integration of our clinical practice will better
delineate oversight and responsibility for the clinical
practice and the departments of the School of Medicine.
First, a bit of history. Over the last two
decades, the independent clinical practices within
departments have been moving toward integration. In
multiple steps, those independent practices first
transitioned their patient billing to the University
Medical Group, a nonprofit corporation formed to provide
billing and other services. Later, in 2000, with the
creation of the OHSU Medical Group, the various
independent practices were eliminated and unified into a
single organization. The OHSU Medical Group became a
legal entity – distinct and separate from the School of
Medicine – employing faculty for their clinical practice
activity.
During this time, the combined clinical
enterprise – driven in part by the School's strategic
recruitment and investment in new faculty – grew
significantly. We have new clinical space, more patients
and are pursuing numerous innovative collaborative
initiatives.
The parallel organizational
structure of the OHSU Medical Group and the School was
responsive to status quo challenges and opportunities.
However, it also resulted in an awkward – from an
organizational perspective – circumstance which splits
clinical faculty between, in effect, two employers. This
dual organizational model can inadvertently create a
"split personality" among faculty who are also engaged
in education, research or outreach mission areas.
I believe integration of the OHSU Medical Group
within the School will help address this issue by
establishing a clear line of authority to the School.
This clarity should also provide greater support for
collaboration across mission areas, and provide new
opportunities to enhance patient care. Integration is
now explicitly called out as a goal in the first 5-year
plan supporting Vision 2020.
The process of
"how" we integrate the clinical practice fully into the
School of Medicine is, of course, paramount. As a first
step, in cooperation with the OHSU Medical Group
leadership, the Dean's office and the university's
Executive Leadership Team have agreed on six desired
outcomes to guide our process. Effective integration of
the clinical practice has the potential to:
1)
Reinforce and enhance our regulatory compliance
position.
2) Enhance the effectiveness of the
Dean's office to lead the clinical faculty across all
mission areas.
3) Strengthen the productive
growth of the clinical practice to enable its
sustainable support of the university's academic
missions.
4) Maximize the ability of the
clinical practice to use funds in ways that enhance
faculty stability and clinical growth.
5)
Transform planning, funding and decision-making of the
clinical practice so it is more nimble and
effective.
6) Preserve the elements of the
clinical practice that attract, retain and energize
clinical faculty and foster an entrepreneurial spirit.
We will, of course, proceed in ways designed to
ensure that faculty and staff are not disadvantaged by
integration of the clinical practice. I will continue to
keep you informed of these discussions and solicit your
input as we move forward.
Integration of the
clinical practice is an exciting undertaking and will be
a significant step toward Vision 2020.
Best
regards,
Mark
Richardson
Dean
OHSU Board of Directors approves 5-year strategic
plan for Vision 2020
On October 30, the OHSU Board of Directors
unanimously passed Resolution 2007-10-12 to adopt the
first five-year strategic plan for Vision 2020. The
Board passed the resolution after a presentation by
President Joe Robertson summarizing the plan. Vision
2020 states that: OHSU will partner to make Oregon a
national leader in health and science innovation for the
purpose of improving the health and well-being of all
Oregonians.
"To look out into the future and
honestly deal with the possibilities – some good, some
not so good – gives this plan a high degree of
integrity," said Scott Gibson, Vice Chairman of the
Board.
"I'd like to thank you for involving the
board to a great degree," added Keith Thomson, Chairman
of the Board. "You got us involved early and took our
comments to heart."
Over the next several months,
the School of Medicine will develop and discuss a
strategic response to meet the specific goals outlined
in the Vision 2020 Plan.
A link to the 5-year
plan is on the OZONE page.
New $400k Dean's Fund for Research Collaboration
established
Dean Mark Richardson has established the Dean's Fund
for Research Collaboration – four awards each of
$100,000 that will be available for inter-departmental
research collaborations this year. The Dean announced
the new Fund at the first anniversary celebration for
the Oregon Clinical & Translational Research
Institute (OCTRI) on October 22. The Dean's Fund will be
administered though OCTRI.
"I firmly believe in
the importance of OCTRI to the future of the School,
OHSU and Oregon," said Dean Richardson. "I also believe
that faculty should be involved in determining how our
resources are spent. This new Fund meets both of those
objectives."
The purpose of the Fund is to
nurture and support integrated skill sets and assist new
collaborative projects, or on-going projects that are
unfunded but promising. Dean Richardson will convene a
Fund peer review committee whose membership will reflect
its purpose in supporting collaboration. The committee
will include basic scientists, physician-researchers and
clinicians. The committee will be charged with writing
and issuing an RFP and selecting awardees. Additional
information on this new funding opportunity for School
of Medicine faculty will be forthcoming.
Update: Leadership transitions in the School of
Medicine
The Search Committee for a new chair for the
Department of Molecular & Medical Genetics has
identified several candidates who will be invited to the
campus for interviews and presentations in the
near-future ... The Dean's office has formed a Search
Committee for a new chair for the Department of
Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery ... A position
description for the new Associate Dean for Basic
Research is under review; this position will be posted
soon and a Search Committee convened ... Applications
for the Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education
are now being reviewed by the Search Committee ...
Nominations for the new Director and Associate Director
of the MD-PhD program are being solicited as the Search
Committee is convened.
School of Medicine Communicators Group formed
The School of Medicine Communicators Group brings
together designated "communicators" from each
department. Meeting monthly, the group will collaborate
to support the communications and other goals of Vision
2020.
"Transparent and robust communication in
all directions is key to supporting the culture change
called for by Vision 2020," said Dean Mark Richardson at
the inaugural meeting. "This group strengthens the
communication links between individual departments and
the Dean's office."
Thus far, the group has
shared information about how different departments
communicate internally, and listened to presentations
from editors of the various university-level
publications. The group will be charged with
disseminating priority messages, as it did during the
TOPOFF 4 drill, creating inter-departmental
communications strategies, and will help beta-test new
communications tools, such as the School's new
enterprise-level calendar of events now on the home page
(www.ohsu.edu/som).
To learn more about the group
or to participate, contact Kathleen McFall, Director of
Communications, School of Medicine, at
mcfallka@ohsu.edu.
Dedication of Rosenbaum Neuroscience Library
 Herbert Rosenbaum, MD, a 1949 graduate of the School
of Medicine, wants his alma mater to have what he
believes will be one of the best neuroscience libraries
of rare and historic books on the West Coast, and he's
donated the books – and sufficient funds for their
upkeep – to get it launched.
The Herbert
Rosenbaum Neurosciences Library, dedicated during a
September 6 ceremony, is located on the 12th floor of
the Hatfield Research Center. Dennis Bourdette, MD,
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology,
said he is "overjoyed" with Rosenbaum's generosity and
vision. "It's very important that young neurologists in
training are exposed to the history of neurology," Dr.
Bourdette said.
In addition to the main library,
the space contains a section of extremely rare,
leather-bound works called the Connie Rosenbaum Memorial
Historical Collection, named after Rosenbaum's daughter,
who died in 1974. The entire library is expected to have
between 800 and 1,000 volumes, including 600 books that
are duplicates from a similar rare books library at
Washington University. Dr. Rosenbaum, 82, Professor
Emeritus of Neurology in the School of Medicine at
Washington University in St. Louis, says he hopes his
contribution helps medical students understand that
"what they're learning today didn't grow on
trees."
"We really want this library to be a well
from which students can selectively reap as much
knowledge as possible, from people who worked in the
field of neuroscience," he said.
Dr.
Rosenbaum, pictured above, at the library
dedication.
Faculty Spotlight: Ruth and Joseph Matarazzo honored
by American Psychological Association
Longtime faculty members Ruth G. and Joseph D.
Matarazzo have been honored by the American
Psychological Association for their contributions to the
advancement of psychology as a science and profession.
Ruth Matarazzo, PhD, and Joseph Matarazzo, PhD, were
each presented the annual Presidential Citation from the
APA during the association's 115th annual convention in
San Francisco.
Joseph Matarazzo was a Professor
of Behavioral Neuroscience until his retirement in June
2007. He was founder and served as chairman of the
Department of Medical Psychology - later renamed the
Department of Behavioral Neuroscience - from 1957 to
1996. In 2001 he received the annual Lifetime
Achievement Award from the American Psychological
Foundation. The APA award was in recognition of his
"outstanding contributions to psychology in more than 50
years of service to the field," according to the APA
citation.
Ruth Matarazzo, Professor Emerita of
Behavioral Neuroscience, was recognized by the APA for
her "professional leadership outside the academy as well
as within." She was one of the first women psychologists
to serve on a medical school faculty, and was the
School's first woman liaison officer to the Association
of American Medical Colleges. At that time, she formed a
committee of women faculty who mentored women medical
students and promoted women faculty's participation on
faculty committees and university
administration.
With 50 years of service, Dr.
Joseph Matarazzo is the longest-serving full-time
faculty member in the School's history. Please visit the
school's home page for a Q&A with Dr. Matarazzo: click
here.
Health Policy Spotlight: K. John McConnell, PhD
 K. John McConnell, PhD, Assistant Professor in the
Department of Emergency Medicine, is an increasingly
familiar face in the legislative corridors of Salem. Dr.
McConnell, a health economist, was recently appointed
Chief Economic Advisor to the Oregon Health Fund Board.
Created last legislative session, the Board's charge is
to present a comprehensive plan for health care reform
to the 2009 legislature.
"Oregon has a history
of grappling with the difficult issues raised by health
care reform, and people already understand that
compromises are necessary," said Dr. McConnell. "I am
cautiously optimistic about the state's prospects for
meaningful reform."
As part of his role in
informing Oregon's health policy discussions, Dr.
McConnell recently calculated the value of Oregon's
"cost-shift." The report estimated the effect of
uncompensated care on the price of private insurance.
"We were particularly interested in tracking the
impact of the contraction of the Oregon Health Plan over
the last several years," said Dr. McConnell.
The
analysis showed that the loss of coverage for an average
OHP (Medicaid) beneficiary generated hospital
uncompensated care costs of approximately $852,
corresponding to approximately $1,352 in total
(hospital, clinic and physician) uncompensated care
costs.
"Conversations with Oregon health plans
and providers suggest that the majority of this burden
of uncompensated care is ultimately borne by those with
private insurance," concludes the report. Dr. McConnell
calculated that this "cost-shift" accounted for 6 to 9
percent of the average cost of commercial health
insurance premiums.
Dr. McConnell also recently
received funding from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse to evaluate the cost of Oregon's Mental Health and
Chemical Dependency Parity law, which took effect in
January 2007. The law requires that insurers cover
behavioral health in the same way they do physical
health.
"From an economic perspective, the
question is: if you remove limits and improve access,
how does that affect the total cost of care?" asked Dr.
McConnell.
The study will analyze claims data
two years before and after the enactment of the law. Six
major Oregon commercial health plans are providing
claims data to the study. The project, "Oregon's Parity
Law: Comprehensive Parity in Today's Healthcare
Environment," was funded for approximately $900,000 over
3 years. The results are likely to inform future
discussion of the parity law, in Oregon as well as at
the federal level.
"Oregon's Cost-Shift: The
Effect of Public Insurance Coverage on Uncompensated
Care" was funded by the Oregon Office of Health Policy
Research through a grant from the Health Resources and
Services Administration: click
here for report. To learn more about the Health Fund
Board: click
here.
Medical, PA students place first in Portland
Triathlon relay event
 First-year medical students Devon Greer and Jesse
Schonau-Taylor, and Ian Penner, first-year student in
the Physician Assistant Program, won the Men's Relay
Division of the Portland Triathlon, held over Labor Day
weekend.
Competing as the "OHSU Future Doc
Jocks," they finished the swim-ride-run course in two
hours and twenty minutes. They placed ninth overall,
four minutes ahead of their nearest Relay Division
rivals – a mixed team.
Penner, who cycled the
hilly 40K middle leg, and Schonau-Taylor, who ran the
final 10K leg, teamed up when they saw each other
wearing shirts from previous triathlon events. The final
link came together the day before the event when both
saw Greer wearing a swim team t-shirt. They asked him to
swim the 1.5K lead-off leg, and "we registered the
morning of the event," recalled
Schonau-Taylor.
Dr. Edward Keenan, Associate Dean
for Medical Education, commented: "Our students are
encouraged to always strive for excellence,
professionally and otherwise, and this performance
attests to that goal."
The trophy is on display
on the fourth floor of the Basic Science Building.
Pictured above from left: Devon Greer, Ian
Penner, Jesse Schonau-Taylor
Funding opportunity: Research Center for
Gender-Based Medicine
In response to the growing understanding of the
importance of gender in various fields of medicine, OHSU
has launched a new research center designed to provide
funding and support to faculty engaged in gender-based
medicine research. The OHSU Research Center for
Gender-Based Medicine aims to support research on the
biological differences in how men and women respond to
medicine.
Patricia Hurn, PhD, Professor and Vice
Chair in the Department of Anesthesiology and
Peri-Operative Medicine (APOM), is director of the
center. "I truly believe that gender-based medicine is
the new frontier in patient-designed health care," Dr.
Hurn said. "Our one-of-a-kind virtual center will
support School of Medicine faculty in their particular
areas of interest related to how men and women uniquely
respond to disease and treatment."
The center
integrates diverse disciplines and methodologies to
target not only understudied areas of women's health but
also novel areas of gender-related biology in men. The
center will provide resources to faculty-level
investigators, including seed funding for selected
research projects and limited laboratory facilities.
For more information about the center or its
funding opportunities click
here or contact Cindee Gray, Associate Director, at
grayc@ohsu.edu.
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