Clinical enterprise president Bradley Britigan, M.D., and CEO Bill Dinsmoor announced the new executive leadership structure for the organization during a series of forums earlier this month. Both said the new leadership structure is built for the future of health care reform.
"We have been historically a collection of tribes," Dinsmoor said. "That doesn't work anymore. We can respect our past cultures, but we are building for the future. We are building a new culture."
The new leadership structure unifies ambulatory clinic and hospital operations. What once were separate operations managed by UNMC Physicians, The Nebraska Medical Center or Bellevue Medical Center are now connected.
View the new leadership chart.
"This is a leadership structure with much more involvement from providers," Dr. Britigan said. "Some of these positions are clinically focused, some are support. All of them are very important to the future of our clinical enterprise."
The goals behind the new structure are better efficiency, better adjustment to the new ways health care will be managed and delivered, and most importantly, better care of patients wherever they're seen.
Also introduced at forums were several other key leaders. Jim Canedy, M.D., and Marcel Devetten, M.D., continue their roles as medical leaders with the Accountable Care Alliance, the partnership with Methodist Health System.
Joining the two physicians in the ACA is Troy Wilhelm, current chief financial officer for UNMC Physicians. Dinsmoor believes the ACA will play a major role in the future of the clinical enterprise, accounting for 50 percent of revenue in the future.
Chris Kratochvil, M.D., psychiatry, and Kelly Caverzagie, M.D., internal medicine, will lead the clinical enterprise's research and education efforts, respectively.
Both Dinsmoor and Dr. Britigan said employees can expect rapid changes in the next several months. Leading many of the transformational efforts is Joe Graham, senior vice president of operations and transformation improvement.
Graham is leading 41 different performance improvement projects across the clinical enterprise. The projects range in scope from clinical care to financial operations and culture change.
"We are going to start moving quickly on process improvement," Graham said. "We now have the people in place with the necessary skills to do it."
Work on the projects begins Feb. 1.
Q&A on the clinical enterprise
- Why are we bringing our organizations together?
Simply put, it is what’s best for our patients and for the health of our organizations. The community already sees us as one. This change will allow us to provide a more standardized approach to the patient experience as well as gain operational efficiencies. The clinical enterprise will be an academic health science center which aims to be the highest quality care delivery system possible, while also fulfilling the academic and research missions. It will be designed to provide oversight across the continuum of care, regardless of where or how services are delivered, making it care-based rather than location-based.
-
What are some of the biggest changes?
- One executive leadership team and one advisory board. These leaders will be focused on the greater good of the clinical enterprise over the needs of any individual/entity.
- Collective focus on patient experience, continuum of care.
- Higher level of provider representation and involvement in decision making.
- Synergy with our academic and research missions.
- Less duplication of services. For example, one of the most noticeable changes internally and externally will be a redesign of our revenue cycle resulting in one bill for our patients.
- Working as one to achieve operational efficiencies in areas like supply chain management and standardizing processes in clinical care areas to enhance quality.
-
In the coming weeks will be have some exciting announcements about the opportunities for growth. Stay tuned.
- What won’t change?
What won’t change is our commitment to high quality care for our patients, our quest to continually improve our processes and services, our commitment to be the employer of choice in the community, our mission to serve the community regardless of ability to pay.
- When will the clinical integration or “merger” be complete between The Nebraska Medical Center, Bellevue Medical Center and UNMC Physicians?
The new executive leadership structure and advisory board was announced this week. Starting now we will manage the clinical operations as a whole rather than separately. By July 1 we anticipate the organizations will be legally one entity and will have a unified identity. Late this spring we will be sharing details on a comprehensive benefits and compensation package that will better unify and align benefits across the clinical enterprise. The goal is that by Jan. 1, 2015 all employees will be under the same benefit structure.
- Will we be getting a new name?
How we will be identified is a very important and complex question for our future. Work is starting now to identify the process and clinical enterprise stakeholders that will determine the answer. We plan to have a solution/decision by July 1. We will take into account the current value of the existing brands, public perception and benefits and risks of a change.
- Will my manager/director/supervisor change?
Each executive will be going through a process to understand the current state of operations versus the ideal state for their areas of responsibility. They may choose to make changes to reporting relationships. For most employees though, we don’t anticipate reporting structures to change right away. Your current manager or director is probably still your manager or director.
- Will we have layoffs?
We know there are questions about staffing levels and potential layoffs. As we’ve said before – it is possible but we do not know for sure yet what the impact will be. We are committed to being open and transparent about those decisions as they are made. We encourage you to stay informed by attending forums, department meetings, watching video updates and reading newsletters.
- When will we know more about benefits?
In the late spring, we will be educating staff about a “Total Rewards” comprehensive benefits and compensation package that will better unify and align benefits across the clinical enterprise. In the near-term, staff will remain employed by their current employer and benefits will also remain consistent with their current employer.
- What’s in it for providers?
We have carefully planned for a higher level of provider representation and involvement in decision making. The changes we are making are intended to move our clinical enterprise towards a patient and provider centric model. Quality is king. If we continually improve our processes and outcomes, we decrease costs, improve the patient experience and elevate our reputation.
- How is this change different from the 1997 merger?
In 1997 we merged hospitals. Now we are bringing together our patient care operations and building a common culture. We will work closely with care providers to truly create one team centered on the needs of the patient.