UBMD

As UBMD continues to develop as an integrated practice plan that can implement the clinical mission of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences with maximum efficiency and impact, the roles of the Faculty Practice Management Plan Governing Board (GB) and the newly created UBMD Management Council (MC) readily complement each other.

The GB has ultimate authority and oversight over all aspects of the practice plan. This role is greatly facilitated by delegating certain day-to-day operational functions to the MC so that the GB can oversee the overall operation without also having to conduct the complex daily operations of the practice plan by itself.

The GB has traditionally delegated many of these functions to UB Associates (UBA), but the efficiency of the operational arm has been greatly enhanced by the creation of a body that consists of individuals who are intimately involved in the activities of the plan that will assume UBA’s duties.

The division of labor in the new structure is designed to maximize the efficacy of UBMD. The GB consists of elected representatives from each of the 18 clinical departments and one basic science department. Wayne R. Waz, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and the board’s vice president, points out that open nominations give a large body of faculty members the opportunity to run and provide flow of new members into the group.

MC members include the chairs of the 18 clinical departments, one basic science chair, nine at-large faculty members elected by the clinician faculty as a whole, and the vice president for health sciences, the dean of the medical school, and the president of UB.

In order to ensure continuous communication between the GB and the MC and close oversight of the MC, the GB president (currently William P. Dillon, gynecology-obstetrics) serves ex officio as one of the at-large voting members, and two additional GB members are elected by the GB to serve as at-large voting members of the MC (currently Kevin J. Gibbons, neurosurgery, and Tom Langan, neurology). At the same time, undue influence of the oversight mission of the GB is avoided by prohibiting any other MC members (including any of the clinical department chairs) from also serving on the GB.

The activities of the two bodies are further complemented by the terms of their members. GB members are elected each year, providing the potential for healthy turnover and representation from more faculty members but making it difficult for new members to engage in daily operational activities that transcend their terms while more time is available for broader oversight of the effectiveness and appropriateness of those activities. On the MC, the department chairs and the potential for up to four two-year terms of at-large members provide the continuity that is necessary for the operations to be managed properly. The involvement of the department chairs and the at-large faculty members who serve on the MC in their component practice plans enhances their sense of responsibility to see that the plans be coordinated and successful.

The new structure was developed after extensive discussion with everyone who has an interest in the success of UB: members of the Governing Board, the faculty at large, United University Professions, and Human Resources representatives. Further input from groups throughout SUNY has helped to fine-tune the project. The result is an organization that maintains the ultimate authority of the GB over the practice plan while creating an efficient operational arm that can strengthen UBMD in its negotiations with payers and the integration of its clinical activities. “We are all on the same page and want to move forward together,” Dillon says.

“The Management Council provides a previously absent venue that now ensures that departmental leadership is accountable to each other, and ultimately the Governing Board, for clinical service line excellence and performance metrics that are required to favorably impact health care in Western New York,” says Michael E. Cain, dean of the medical school.

Truly, this is a unique opportunity for the faculty to take a quantum leap forward in its clinical and academic leadership role.

—Lauren N. Maynard