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COM faculty meeting outlines changes, concerns by Dick Peterson Public Relations Faculty morale tops the list of concerns to be addressed by the College of Medicine in the upcoming year, Dean Layton McCurdy, M.D., said in a specially called faculty meeting Jan. 5.   McCurdy called the meeting to list administrative changes and explain the direction the university, the MUSC Medical Center, and the college in particular will take in upcoming months. The meeting also was an opportunity for faculty members to air their concerns and gain a better grasp of the rationale behind recent decisions to create a Medical University Hospital Authority and purchase Charleston Memorial Hospital.   “Faculty morale is a significant concern in the college,” McCurdy said, citing diminishing financial support for clinical operations. This, in turn, places a greater burden on clinical faculty members who must divide their time among patients, students, teaching, research, writing and academic pursuits.   “Faculty development suffers,” he said.   The Medical University Hospital Authority, approved by the S.C. Legislature last year, is taking shape as a public benefit corporation much like Santee Cooper and the S.C. Ports Authority. McCurdy said that the hospital authority would allow clinical operations to function more independently of rational state employment and procurement restrictions, which in many cases keep the MUSC Medical Center from competing on a level playing field with other hospitals.   A complex process slows capital improvement projects, and the state’s personnel policies are ill-suited to the efficient operation of a hospital, McCurdy said.   “We have a consensus that these are not systems in the best interest of a successful hospital,” he said. “The Governor gave state employees a day off over Christmas and it cost the hospital half a million dollars. We can be the first to order an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging machine) and the last to get it,” because of purchasing restrictions and approval processes, he explained.   Joanne Conroy, M.D., said that MUSC currently delivers about $85 million annually in uncompensated care to individuals without medical insurance and who cannot pay for the care they receive. “Clinical care dollars that used to shift to research and academic programs are not there any more.”   McCurdy said that the growing problem of uninsured patients is due partially to increased numbers of jobs that do not offer health care benefits to their employees, in contrast to a practice that began in the 1940s and ’50s when companies competed for employees by offering health care benefits. With the transition to a new university executive administration, the following personnel changes are occurring within the College of Medicine: Layton McCurdy, M.D. Dean McCurdy will relocate his office to the Administration Building to assist in university administrative matters to include helping with the Medical Center transition to the new Medical University Hospital Authority. McCurdy will continue to serve as vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine Joanne Conroy, M.D. Added to her responsibilities as chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and associate vice president for medical affairs, Conroy has been named senior associate dean. She will assume overall responsibility for the financial operations of the College of Medicine, oversight responsibility for the clinical activities of the faculty of the college, oversight of University Medical Associates, and management of the interface between the college faculty and the MUSC Medical Center. John Heffner, M.D. Heffner, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, will be named associate dean for faculty affairs. This is a part-time position for Heffner as he continues his faculty activities in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine. His responsibilities will include the traditional functions of that office (appointment, promotion and tenure process) and a new initiative in faculty development. Department of Medicine. James Spann, M.D. Spann will return full-time to the Division of Cardiology, anticipating retirement from the university in the fall of 2000. Mark Lyles, M.D. Lyles will assume a new position in the Dean’s Office as assistant dean for clinical operations. This is a part-time position focused on overseeing the implementation of a variety of clinical enterprise initiatives. He will work closely with Conroy. Ken Roozen, Ph.D. Roozen will join the dean’s office staff as interim associate dean for research. This position in the College of Medicine will be part-time in as much as his responsibilities as executive director of the MUSC Foundation for Research Development will continue to command the major part of his attention. In the College of Medicine, Roozen will be responsible for assisting and advising the dean and the college in the development and management of MUSC’s growing research programs. Tom Higerd, Ph.D. Higerd will resign his position as associate dean for resource planning and relocate as associate provost for institutional research and assessment. The Office of Resource Planning will close.