Attendance by Officers and Members of the Executive Board:
 
 

President	Harvey Kaslow	present
President-Elect	Loren Laine	present
Secretary	Robert Stellwagen	present
Treasurer	Jerry Gates	present
Past President	Kathryn Challoner	present
Member-at-Large	Peter Heseltine	present
Member-at-Large	Roger Jelliffe	absent
Member-at-Large	Dennis O'Leary	present

Representation at the Meeting:
 
 

Anesthesiology
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Frank Markland
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Cell and Neurobiology	Gene Albrecht
Children's Hospital	Gary Lerner
Emergency Medicine	Michael Orlinsky
Family Medicine
Medicine	Om P. Sharma
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology	Joseph Landolph
Neurological Surgery
Neurology
Norris Medical Library	Candice Benjes
Obstetrics and Gynecology	Rebecca Z. Sokol
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Otolaryngology	Dennis O'Leary
Pathology	Florence Hoffman
Pediatrics	Laura Wachsman
Physiology and Biophysics	Herb Meiselman
Preventive Medicine	Dan Strom
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences	Henry Sluki
Radiation Oncology
Radiology
Rancho Los Amigos Hospital
Surgery	Jeffrey Peters
Urology

Also attending: Joseph Van Der Meulen, Clive Taylor, Ronald Kaufman

1. Call to order and consideration of minutes

 

 

The meeting was called to order at 12:10 PM by President Harvey Kaslow. The minutes of the Sept. 1, 1998 MFA meeting and notes from the Oct. 6, 1998 meeting of the Faculty-at-Large were distributed. Action on these documents was deferred.
 
 

2. Documentation of clinical activity by faculty and

the negotiation of new CPSA agreement.

Dr. Van Der Meulen focussed on the following issues:
 

• Boilerplate language in the CPSA -- There have been concerns about changes in the language, but he believes these are being addressed.
• The indemnification clause in the CPSA -- They are working to find a mutually acceptable formula.
• Accountability for work performed by faculty at the County -- Various possible approaches are being discussed. Dr. Van Der Meulen stressed the importance of faculty compliance with whatever procedure is adopted and asked for faculty input about these issues.

Dr. Challoner reported on a letter she and Dr. Laine had sent Dr. Van Der Meulen in which they expressed concern about the inadequacies of County resources currently being directed to gathering the needed information about the work performed. The clerks processing the data are often inadequately trained. The Dept. of Emergency Medicine has found it necessary to hire their own transcribers to overcome these inadequacies.

Dr. Laine also spoke about the inadequacies and problems with the current system. He stressed the failure of the system to capture data accurately even when the forms are properly filled out.

Dr. Van Der Meulen acknowledged the existence of these problems. He stated that efforts need to be made to develop better procedures as we go forward.

Dr. Heseltine suggested that the County could be asked to provide USC with the physician component of what the County bills the State and Federal Governments for medical care. This issue was discussed further. Dr. Van Der Meulen felt more information was needed to evaluate this possible approach.

Dr. Challoner raised the issue that many faculty members are concerned about the impact of reengineering on their ability to provide clinical services. She also stated that current ancillary support is adversely impacting patient care.  She gave two examples:  inability to provide emergency dialysis services resulting in the transfer of critically ill patients away from the Medical Center and the sporadic closure certain nights and weekends of CMA/ICU beds due to a shortage of nursing staff.

Dr. Van Der Meulen indicated that there are a number of uncertainties regarding the future of the reengineering efforts. The Board of Supervisors has expressed concerns about what is being accomplished. He said that ultimately the CPSA has to be tied to the reengineering process but indicated his agreement that there are currently a number of problems with the reengineering.

Dr. Kaslow asked if there were any documents that could be circulated to the faculty to help them understand what is going on. Dr. Van Der Meulen replied that there were no such documents, but indicated that his comments at this meeting should provide information, and he again asked for faculty input.

Dr. Kaslow asked about the timetable for future meeting with the County on the CPSA. Dr. Van Der Meulen responded that he hoped to speed the process up in the future.

Dr. Meiselman asked about the potential negative image for USC related to problems with health care delivery at the County and also raised some concerns about items sold in the Pharmacy at University Hospital. Further discussion followed.

Dr. Heseltine stated that the services the County is required to provide must be tied to an external standard so that needs could be met. He also addressed current problems arising from the reengineering activities.

Dr. Van Der Meulen asked that key faculty who have concerns about the reengineering be identified and that they meet with him and perhaps Dr. Ronald Kaufman.

In response to a question from Dr. Orlinsky, Dr. Van Der Meulen discussed perceptions that various individuals might have about the importance of keeping the County Hospital operating. He indicated its importance to the programs of the School of Medicine.

Dr. Taylor also commented on problems with reengineering.

Dr. Wachsman expressed concern about the shortage of nurses in Pediatrics.

Later in the meeting Dr. Ronald Kaufman arrived and was asked to comment on problems at the County Hospital. He indicated that a nationwide shortage of skilled nurses is a problem that contributes to the staffing problems at the County Hospital. Although USC and County have a training program for nurses, hiring freezes imposed by the County make it difficult to hire graduates of this program. The County needs to improve its efforts to recruit nurses and must recognize it is competing against other hospitals in this effort.

Dr. Kaufman also responded to a question about the reengineering process by indicating that the original expectations for what could be accomplished by the reengineering were very high. He indicated that some savings could be achieved by what was being proposed but these savings might not be as much as the Board of Supervisors would want.

Dr. Van Der Meulen indicated that the committee is reviewing and assessing the current state of the budget. The budget appears to be balanced at this point but the analysis is not yet complete.

The Treasurer of the MFA, Dr. Gates, distributed a brief summary report of the recent activities of the finance committee from his perspective as MFA Treasurer and representative to the committee.

President Kaslow reported that the MFA Executive Board had considered events at the Finance Committee, and as a result brought to to the MFA a proposed Recommendation:

• A proposed MFA Recommendation: A Consolidated Budget Document

 

 

Dr. Kaslow stated that an issue facing the Finance Committee is deciding what information can be distributed to the faculty via its representative at the meetings of the Committee. As a result, the MFA Executive Board drafted a recommendation calling on the Dean to provide to the Finance Committee and the Treasurer of the MFA a consolidated budget document. The proposed recommendation was put on the table for debate.

After extensive debate which sought to diminish any inflammatory tone in the recommendation, modified text was passed by a vote of 12 in favor, 4 against, and 2 abstentions. Additional discussion led to reconsideration of the approved recommendation, and after amendment to restore some of the language of the original resolution, this amended version was passed by a vote of 14 in favor, 2 against, and no abstentions. The final approved version will be referred to as MFA Recommendation 1998-99-002.

The MFA Executive Board had nominated the following three individuals to serve on the Joint Task Force Regarding Governance:

• Harvey Kaslow, MFA President
• Loren Laine, MFA President-elect
• Rebecca Sokol, Representative to the MFA from Obstetrics and Gynecology


A vote was held and these three individuals were elected unanimously.

President Kaslow directed everyone's attention to the handout he had prepared regarding the Department-specific Listservers.

President Kaslow reported that the Academic Senate is considering additional revisions to the Faculty Handbook.

Dr. Slucki urged the MFA to formally elect individuals to serve as alternates to the Senate. It was suggested by Dr. Albrecht that this topic be put on the agenda for the next meeting.
 

This item was deferred until next meeting.

None were offered.

The issue of faculty salary increases for the next fiscal year was raised from the floor. Discussion took place regarding the previous raising of this issue at the Finance Committee and at the meeting of the Faculty-at-Large. President Kaslow pointed out that the Dean, in his remarks at the meeting of the Faculty-at-Large, had indicated this issue should be considered by the Finance Committee. It was suggested that the issue of faculty salary increases be considered by the MFA Executive Board and a recommendation be considered at the next meeting. President Kaslow encouraged representatives to email him specific suggestions for a recommendation on this issue.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:35 PM.