Dear Colleagues,
As we are all aware, over the past several months there has been a “sea-change” occurring here in Western New York related to health care. For the Shakespeare aficionados among you, the phrase is found in The Tempest:
“Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.”
The New York State Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (aka “Berger Commission”) moved into full gear in late 2005, almost concurrent with the UBMD branding launch. Now, not quite three years later and with few demonstrable exceptions, Berger implementation is considered a widespread success as hospitals across the state undergo considerable transformation.
Here in Buffalo, the greatest Berger success is the reconfiguration and consolidation of service lines within the Western New York Health System, formed to provide joint governance over Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center Corporation and brought about by strong and determined physician leadership from both health systems, UBMD and community practitioners.
Concurrently, the process to create a single, unified academic practice has been driven by dedicated, thoughtful faculty and faculty leaders now comprising the UBMD management council, which is in the process of forming a variety of important work groups and committees. The economies of scale, efficiency of management and operations, and ability to measure and monitor the quality of clinical practice outcomes make this an exceedingly worthwhile venture. In addition, the cohesion and collaboration that underpins such a large, inclusive clinical practice assuredly will spill over into other facets of the academic mission leading to enhancements in education and training, and clinical and translational research.
Within several years, with much hard work and dedication, it is within our grasp to have an academically oriented health system and a vibrant unified academic clinical practice with state-of-the-art tools such as an electronic health record, a common billing system, and the ability to transmit diagnostic studies and relevant patient data across large bandwidth digital conduits. “Something rich and strange” indeed, but soon to be familiar to us all.
Best regards,
David L. Dunn,
President and CEO, UB Associates
Vice President for Health Sciences
