Currents

February 23, 1999

Recently, the State Supreme Court ruled favorably on MUSC's behalf regarding the lawsuit about the proposed affiliation, or lease agreement, with Columbia/HCA. The Medical Society of South Carolina, which operates Roper Hospital, filed the lawsuit in September 1996. When the lawsuit was filed, we anticipated that the case would likely be appealed to the Supreme Court for final resolution.

The case involves numerous issues and raised the following questions:

  • Was the lease really a “joint venture?”
  • Was the lease in violation of the state constitution?
  • Was adequate consideration given to the lease agreement?
  • Was the state's credit being pledged?
  • Was the lease a violation of the state procurement code?
  • Was the authorizing legislation improperly passed?

Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled favorably for MUSC on these major issues. However, the court determined that the MUSC Board of Trustees doesn't have the power to sell or exchange property, unlike other higher education institutions in our state. Apparently, many years ago the verbiage concerning this power was not included in the law. This is now in the process of being corrected.

What does this final Supreme Court decision mean now? The court's decision gives MUSC more options as we look at conducting business and fulfilling our mission in the future. The court's decision also resolves issues of concern to the state about how legislation is passed.

Since the lawsuit was filed, we have continuously evaluated the health care market and changing conditions, observed organizational structure changes at other academic medical centers, communicated with government officials concerning issues affecting MUSC, and updated our strategic plan.

The MUSC clinical enterprise strategic plan, as approved in principle in October 1998 by the Board of Trustees, focuses upon four major areas, including ownership and legal structure. The strategic plan suggests establishing a state-affiliated, flexible ownership and governance structure that would allow the clinical enterprise to operate effectively and offer the highest quality of care to our patients.

In an earlier issue of Currents, we explained that the recent KPMG consulting report outlines four options for the Medical Center's organizational structure, including: maintain the status quo; seek regulatory relief (i.e., target certain state regulations from which the Medical Center needs to be exempt); form a public benefit corporation (i.e., a public authority); or become a non-profit corporation. The KPMG group prefers the public benefit corporation option.

Government officials support MUSC's plans to move forward with organizational restructuring, similar to other public academic medical centers. As we look toward the future, the court's decision also clarifies our ability to form relationships with other organizations to fulfill our mission.

We are now in a good position to make progress toward achieving our strategic goal concerning ownership and legal structure. From our previous experience, we are well attuned to employees' key areas of interest. Regardless of the exact shape the anticipated structural change will take, the MUSC leadership is committed to providing excellence in patient care, while ensuring employees' best interests.

W. Stuart Smith, Interim Vice President for Clinical Operations Interim CEO, MUSC Medical Center

Announcements

  • Jodell Johnson, R.N., coordinator of Infection Control, and Cheryl Brian-Buse, nurse specialist for the Safety Program, distributed posters that outline the importance of quick response when someone is accidentally stuck by a needle. Please contact Johnson at 792-4308 if you need a poster for your area. Call Brian-Buse at 792-1378 if you would like her to speak to your department about bloodborne pathogens.

Capital Equipment Planning

  • John Cooper, director of finance, distributed the fiscal year 2000 capital equipment budget planning form, which must be used to make a budget request for any clinical, computer or general equipment valued at $500 or greater. Directors and managers should prepare three-year plans for their capital equipment needs.
  • Each department should enter this information into the capital equipment planning database, which is located on the DB server. All fiscal year 2000 capital equipment requests must be completely documented in the database by March 23. Additionally, a hard copy of each fiscal year 2000 budget request, accompanied by all necessary supporting materials, must be submitted to room 255 North Tower by March 23.
  • Please contact Cooper at 792-7068 if you have questions.

Y2K Update

  • Tom Keating, administrator for Children's Healthcare System, John Franklin, director of Support Services, and David Northrup, director of Healthcare Computing Services, updated the management team on MUSC's Y2K efforts. Keating said internal teams have been focusing on the following five steps:
    • Institution awareness—educating MUSC about the Y2K problem.
    • Inventory and assessment—thoroughly assessing and testing equipment supported by CCIT or Biomedical Engineering. Keating wants all departments to conduct their own assessments to anticipate and plan for any problems.
    • Implementation—MUSC will spend $5 million to update or replace hardware, software and biomedical equipment.
    • Individual testing—comprehensive testing to see how the date rollover will affect equipment. Franklin noted that testing is approximately 80 percent complete. If you have questions about critical equipment, please contact the high-risk help line at 792-7924.
    • Institutionwide contingency planning—strategically planning how to respond to mission-critical failures.
  • Keating distributed detailed handouts that outline specific departmental strategies for Y2K contingency planning. Please contact him at 876-1446 if you need additional information.

Catalyst Menu | Community Happenings | Grantland | Research Grants | Research Studies | Seminars and Events | Speakers Bureau | Applause | Archives | Charleston Links | Medical Links | MUSC |