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Program directs resources to achieve MUSC missionsIn today's era of accountability and the prudent use of public resources, MUSC and other academic medical centers are reviewing their business and operational processes with the intent of directing those resources to their primary missions.And like many of its counterparts, MUSC is turning to Mission Based Management (MBM), a method of accountability that appears to benefit those institutions that have adopted this tool. It is well known that academic medical institutions have been accustomed to a reasonable income from clinical revenues and government funding. Unfortunately, many programs develop their financial support through cross-subsidization with strong revenue-generating programs. Decreased clinical revenues and government funding has forced academic institutions to articulate, evaluate and prioritize their programs with the view of directing resources to those that are mission critical. The impact on MUSC's missions for education, research and clinical services is challenging faculty to critically evaluate ongoing programs for their relevance. The evaluation of these programs must protect the integrity of education of health care workers and medical scientists; objectivity and innovation in research; and needed health care services provided to the community. MBM involves the acquisition and integration of a variety of informative elements including fiscal and productivity measurements. “In retrospect and under the current system, there are few mechanisms to reward employees for their positive efforts,” said John Heffner, M.D., chair of MBM's clinical design team. “In part this is due to the absence of adequate tools or 'rulers' that can accurately measure an individual's endeavors. Establishing Mission Based Management methods will provide these tools as well as benchmarks to help assess and measure effort.” The Mission Based Management program will assist departments and centers in identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Because this program is “mission specific,” reward for the effort will be established along mission lines and bring integration to the efforts of a variety of team players. The MBM program was adopted by MUSC's College of Medicine in early spring. It is managed under the leadership of Joanne Conroy, M.D., and Layton McCurdy, M.D., Nancy Brennan was appointed as the program's coordinator. Faculty-composed work teams were organized around the university's tripartite missions. In addition, an information technology and communication teams were assembled to build and manage appropriate data bases and to disseminate the progress in MBM respectively. Presently, the education, research and clinical project teams have drafted working templates that begin to address goals and objectives related to their respective mission. These templates are now under broader review with the goal of having a workable template that will be amenable to ongoing changes. “We do not expect nor promote dramatic change tomorrow,” said Brennan. “Mission Based Management is a process which we anticipate will span several years. There will be continual evaluation and reworking of both the process and the measurement tools themselves. That's why the program's communication efforts are so vital.” For further information on the MBM program, contact Brennan at 792-4681. Mission Based Management Project Team
Finance Team
Clinical Team
Research Team
Education Team
Service Team
Information Technology Team
Communications Team
For a complete listing of Mission Based Management teams, visit the
website at
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