The UNMC clinical faculty has voted.
I’m very happy to report that they overwhelmingly supported the governance integration agreement that formally creates Nebraska Medicine.
This vote was the final major step in literally thousands of hours of work over the past 2 ½ years by lawyers and key administrators. It now gives our organization a formal structure from which to move forward to effectively address the rapidly changing world of American health care.
It was good to step back and formally recognize the accomplishment, which took place at a formal signing ceremony June 28, acknowledging all those who worked so diligently to bring this to fruition.
Although very important for the organization as a whole, for the individual faculty of the College of Medicine and its employees, as well as the providers and staff of Nebraska Medicine, most will likely not notice a significant difference in their day-to-day routine. Nebraska Medicine has been essentially operating under the operational model that was formally approved for more than 2 ½ years.
It will be business as usual, and that’s a good thing – especially when you consider that patient volume and revenues at Nebraska Medicine were at all-time highs in the past year. And – better yet – the quality metrics involving patient care have never been higher.
Obviously, having a successful clinical enterprise at Nebraska Medicine is vital to the College of Medicine. Much of the patient revenue generated by the hospital goes toward helping the college meet its education and research obligations.
In fact, thanks to the leadership of Dr. Chris Kratchovil, who serves as both the UNMC vice chancellor for clinical research and the vice president for research for Nebraska Medicine, his clinical research support team and a myriad of research coordinators and investigators, enrollment in clinical trials rose 128 percent last year – truly a remarkable accomplishment.
This is what a strong partnership is all about. When Nebraska Medicine is successful, UNMC is successful and vice versa.
It also puts UNMC/Nebraska Medicine in a stronger position to attract new opportunities, including new provider groups. A perfect example of this occurred earlier this year with the mutual agreement of Internal Medical Associates (IMA) of Grand Island to join Nebraska Medicine.
This is a large, highly regarded clinic that serves more than 10,500 patients annually in Grand Island and surrounding areas. The clinic has seven internal medicine physicians and a rheumatologist, as well as one UNMC resident physician who rotates in the clinic.
Most of the IMA physicians are graduates of the UNMC College of Medicine and have been highly involved in our educational mission in internal medicine at both the resident and medical student level. The partnership launched on July 1. We are thrilled to see it come together, and we’ll continue to look for other opportunities as they occur.
So, welcome to these new members of our team of outstanding health care providers and educators.
We are also looking forward to the arrival later this month of Dr. Daniel DeBehnke, who will assume the role of Nebraska Medicine CEO on Aug. 1 after many years in clinical leadership roles at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Froedtert Health in Milwaukee.
From my interactions with Dr. DeBehnke, I know that he will be a great partner for the College of Medicine, and I look forward to working with him.
We also need to communicate our thanks for the outstanding work that Rosanna Morris has accomplished in moving Nebraska Medicine forward in her role as interim CEO for the last year plus.
She has been a great partner and leader. Interim leadership roles are very challenging, and it is sometimes difficult to accomplish major steps in moving an organization forward. That clearly was not the case with Rosanna as CEO, as the organization has made major advances under her leadership, including, as noted above, accomplishing record quality metrics while at the same time seeing record growth in patient volumes and revenues.
Rosanna announced in late June that she will be leaving Nebraska Medicine to take the position of president of Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich., (outside of Detroit) in a few months. We will miss Rosanna’s knowledge, experience, and energy, but we thank her for all she has done for UNMC and Nebraska Medicine over her eight years in Omaha and wish her great success in her new role.
In closing, I want to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone involved in bringing Nebraska Medicine to reality. It was a monumental task that will truly have historic implications for UNMC/Nebraska Medicine for decades to come.