Posted April 29, 1997
MEDICAL FACULTY ASSEMBLY
MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF APRIL 8, 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Attendance by officers and members of
the executive committee
Representation at the meeting
Approval of minutes
Report on March meeting
of Academic Senate
Report on School of
Medicine budget
CPSA issues
Nominations for election of MFA officers
Restructuring the school and faculty
meeting with Dr. Ryan
Faculty contracts
Appointments and
Promotions Committee
Status of Governance Document
Task Force on
the Future of the Health Sciences
Compensation
for basic science faculty
ATTENDANCE BY OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
President Robert Stellwagen present President-Elect Kathryn Challoner present Secretary Harvey Kaslow present Treasurer Wendy Mack present Past President Donna Shoupe Member-at-Large Silvia Formenti Member-at-Large Loren Laine present Member-at-Large Laura Wachsman present
REPRESENTATION AT THE MEETING:
Anesthesiology Jim Daniel Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Robert Stellwagen Cell and Neurobiology Gene Albrecht Children's Hospital Arno Hohn Emergency Medicine Kathryn Challoner Family Medicine Jerry Gates Medicine Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Neurological Surgery Neurology Cheryl Waters Norris Medical Library Alice Kawakami Obstetrics and Gynecology Ophthalmology Orthopedics Tom Hedman Otolaryngology Dennis O'Leary Pathology Arnis Richters Pediatrics Laura Wachsman Physiology and Biophysics Austin Mircheff Preventive Medicine Wendy Mack Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Henry Slucki Radiation Oncology Radiology Michael Terk Rancho Los Amigos Hospital Vikram Kamdar Surgery Urology
The meeting was called to order at approximately noon by President Robert Stellwagen.
By voice vote with no objection or abstention, the minutes of the March 4, 1997 MFA meeting were approved as previously posted at the MFA WWW site. After changing an error in the name of the faculty member representing Pathology, the minutes of the October 1, 1996 MFA meeting as previously posted at the MFA WWW site were approved by voice vote with no objection or abstention.
2. REPORT ON THE MARCH MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC SENATE.
Harvey Kaslow (Senator, School of Medicine) distributed a written report which is attached.
3. REPORT ON THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE BUDGET.
Kathryn Challoner (member, Finance Committee) distributed a written report which is attached. The appropriations from the unrestricted funds in the budget of the School has been approved by President Sample and Provost Armstrong. Because the CPSA expires on June 30, and the terms of an extension of the contract remain unknown, appropriations to School items tied to that revenue source cannot be stated with certainty.
Peter Heseltine (MFA representative for CPSA issues) reported that he met with Jane Pisano, Dean, USC School of Public Administration, VP External Relations, who has been appointed to the CPSA negotiations team by President Sample, and has begun to define how the MFA representatives will participate in the negotiation of the new CPSA. Dean Pisano stated that the County DHS would soon present a motion to the Board of Supervisors to continue the current contract, unchanged through 1997-98 during which time USC and LAC can negotiate a new contract. Dr. Heseltine reported that the Director of DHS, Mr. Finucane, has finalized the conditions of the Federal 1115 waiver that permits the County to receive reimbursement for outpatient based services instead of primarily for inpatient care.
Dr. Heseltine reported that other health-care entities have approached the County with proposals to assume the care of selected patients. Dr. Heseltine stated that one of the major challenges the School will face is making the case to the County that USC should remain the primary deliverer of all types of care, during the transition from an inpatient to outpatient care and that other entities should not be allowed to strip out portions of that responsibility that would in turn cripple USC's overall efforts. He urged all faculty to actively make that case to the community. He also stated that electronic communication should make it possible for all interested faculty to participate, and that the MFA WWW site will be an integral part of the effort. Ronald Kaufman, Chief of Staff LAC+USC Medical Center gave figures that indicate that USC is in fact delivering care at a cost he believes other entities will find hard to match.
5. NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTION OF MFA OFFICERS FOR 1997-98.
Kathryn Challoner reported for the nominating committee the following nominations:
President-elect: Harvey Kaslow, Physiology and Biophysics
Secretary: Loren Laine, Medicine
Treasurer (one) James
Daniel, Anesthesiology
Herbert
Meiselman, Physiology and Biophysics
Executive Board Members-at-large:
James Daniel,
Anesthesiology
(three positions to be filled): Jerry
Gates, Family Medicine
Wendy
Mack, Preventive Medicine
Herbert Meiselman, Physiology and Biophysics
Austin
Mircheff, Physiology and Biophysics
President Stellwagen set May 6 as the deadline for submission of additional nominations in writing by MFA representatives
6. RESTRUCTURING THE SCHOOL AND FACULTY MEETING WITH DR. RYAN.
Dr. Ryan will meet with faculty on May 6 at 4 PM to discuss the plan to restructure the School of Medicine. Dr. Van Der Meulen stated that the plan to restructure the School of Medicine would be shared by Dr. Ryan with the Finance Committee and the FEC prior to the May 6 meeting.
Dr. Albrecht asked whether the restructuring plan for teaching and research had been finalized. President Stellwagen stated that no information had yet been received from Dr. Ryan regarding restructuring or budgeting despite three requests from the Medical Faculty Assembly Executive Board.
President Stellwagen reported that this failure to obtain information from Dr. Ryan prompted the MFA Executive Board to send a letter to Provost Armstrong expressing the concern that the faculty would not get information from Dr. Ryan in time to meaningfully participate in the restructuring processes. The Provost responded with a letter stating he would "encourage Senior Vice President Ryan to share all appropriate information with the MFA and all other interested faculty." The letter from the Provost stated that "no reorganization will be or should be implemented without extensive and meaningful faculty consultation. Consequently, the date at which such an implementation could occur will be driven by the process of consultation rather than vice versa."
The sense of the MFA was that Dr. Ryan should provide to the faculty a written summary of the plan before the May 6 meeting so that faculty could submit questions to Dr. Ryan in writing regarding the plan at the May 6 meeting.
President Stellwagen reported he was still collecting contract documents. He also contacted Vice-Provost Solomon as requested at the previous MFA meeting, and asked about the extent of variation in the faculty contract across the University. Vice-Provost Solomon replied, in part, by email that "There has been no variation in faculty contracts across the university except in regard to Exhibit A.....If we were to review all faculty contracts in any given year, excluding the Medical School faculty, we would probably find less than a dozen which have an Exhibit A attached."
8. APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS COMMITTEE
In response to a letter from President Stellwagen, Drs. Peters and Bernstein wrote that the rules and procedures of the Appointment and Promotions Committee follow the Faculty Handbook. They included a one page summary developed for use of committee members which was distributed.
9. STATUS OF GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT.
Dr. Van Der Meulen reported that he had conveyed the position stated by the MFA at its last meeting to the Provost: that the MFA considered the document to be in force and that if changes were needed, the changes should be made by the mechanisms contained in the document. Dr. Van Der Meulen stated that Robert Lane (University Counsel) would identify problems in the document, communicate them to the Provost, and then the Provost would communicate with the MFA.
10. TASK FORCE ON THE FUTURE OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES.
The report of the Task Force for the Future of the Health Sciences was discussed. The MFA Executive Board has proposed an amendment to the report which adds an additional principle to Section A) Governance:
Principle 8: Governance is best accomplished with a clear statement of rules and procedures. Each school shall develop and ratify a document clearly stating the rules and procedures that govern the school. In addition, the University Academic Senate shall develop and ratify a document that clearly states the rules and procedures by which the University approves and enforces governance documents of schools, and by which the University allows the schools to amend their governance documents.
After discussion a vote was taken to determine if the MFA supported proposed Principle 8. By voice vote, with no votes nay or in abstention, the MFA voted to recommend adoption of proposed Principle 8.
11. COMPENSATION FOR BASIC SCIENCE FACULTY.
It was reported that some, but not all, basic science faculty had received a letter dated March 28 signed by Drs. Ryan, Van Der Meulen, and Bernstein that stated that "For those tenured basic science faculty who cannot identify sufficient funds to maintain their salaries at the 1994-95 salary level, the Provost and the School of Medicine have identified sufficient funds to insure this level of compensation for the next year, 1997-1998, as we have in the previous two years."
On April 1, President Stellwagen wrote Dr. Van Der Meulen and asked him to define the University position regarding the guaranteed compensation for the Basic Science Faculty. Dr. Van Der Meulen stated at the MFA meeting that the intention had been to send the letter to all basic science faculty, and that the letter described the position of the University.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 PM
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Minutes prepared by Harvey Kaslow, Secretary, MFA