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Currents Internal work teams continue to focus on Y2K The MUSC Medical Center has implemented a hiring moratorium for the next 60 days.  While we plan to dramatically reduce hiring, we told the management team about an approval process to fill "mission critical” vacancies to ensure patient care needs are not compromised. We will review the moratorium every 30 days, and decide whether to extend or otherwise change the guidelines. We will communicate this information as necessary. This moratorium is part of a broader plan of action to improve our budgetary situation. The Medical Center has had a “hiring slowdown” in effect for quite some time, but the results have not achieved our cost reduction goals. We expect the moratorium, with more stringent controls, will better enable us to achieve our goals. A commonly used benchmark to measure overall staffing in the hospital industry is full-time equivalent, or FTE, positions per adjusted occupied bed, which takes into consideration both inpatient and outpatient activity. Our current FTE level under this measure is 6.55. An Association of Academic Medical Center's report indicates most cost-effective academic medical centers average 5.5 to 6.5 FTEs per adjusted occupied bed. Our short-term goal is to reduce this figure to 6.25. Later, we hope to achieve 6.0 FTEs per adjusted occupied bed. Our short- and long-term efforts to reduce staffing will require better utilization of existing staff and continued performance improvement measures. Among other things, we anticipate that initiatives related to the Medical University Hospital Authority implementation will enable improved productivity and cost savings. Our situation is not uncommon. Other hospitals in our state report significant financial problems resulting from the Balanced Budget Act and low reimbursement rates. Numerous academic medical centers throughout the nation are facing huge budgetary shortfalls. At MUSC, we are better off than many other hospitals, but we must act now to improve our budgetary outlook for the future. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center Y2K Update Tom Keating, administrator for Children's Healthcare System, John Franklin, director of Support Services, Tom Rogers, manager of Clinical Support Systems, and Jeff Burdick, manager of Healthcare Administrative Systems, updated the management team on MUSC's Y2K efforts. Keating said internal work teams have focused on the following four phases: Awareness—Educate MUSC about the Y2K problem. This is an ongoing effort. Inventory and assessment—Take a thorough inventory and assess equipment supported by CCIT or Biomedical Engineering. This phase is complete. Remediation—Fix or replace noncompliant equipment. This phase is taking place now. Contingency planning—Strategically plan how to respond to mission-critical failures. This phase is almost complete. Keating said a major focus over the next four months will be on contingency planning and staging rehearsals for potential system failures.  Franklin gave an overview of the Medical Center's detailed contingency plan. The plan lists various areas and systems, with the likelihood for failure, the areas affected, the contingency plan, and the responsible contact person. Within the next month, Franklin will distribute a blank contingency plan form for each department to complete and return to Stan Trojanowski.  Rogers reviewed the current status of CCIT system compliance. He said down time should be expected with each system in order to make copies of each system for the Y2K test server. CCIT may need representatives from each department to help with testing. Beginning Nov. 1, there will be a freeze on all software updates through the end of the year to ensure Y2K readiness.  Burdick said a Y2K-compliant version of Patcom Plus will be up and running Aug. 23.  Equipment Distribution Center Franklin also reviewed the Equipment Distribution Center's progress. He said between July 5 and July 31, the center had more than 1,700 calls with an 8-minute response time. Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 18, the center had more than 1,000 calls with a 5-minute response time. Franklin thanked Doug Coker, technician for Biomedical Engineering, who oversees the center's daily operations. Franklin appreciates Clinical Services' support of the program. Career Opportunities Web Site Susan Carullo, manager of Medical Center Employment, Compensation and Employee Relations, unveiled the Medical Center's new web site for career opportunities and job postings. This new, user-friendly web site is an improvement over the previous web site because it provides far more information about different areas of the Medical Center—including photos. To view the new site, go to www.musc.edu/medcenter/hr/.  Announcements Blood Donation Upcoming bloodmobiles in the MUSC Horseshoe: August Friday, Aug. 27: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Tuesday, Aug. 31: 8 a.m. - noon September Thursday, Sept. 2: 9 a.m. - noon; Thursday, Sept. 16: 9 a.m. - noon; Wednesday, Sept. 29: 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Harborview Tower Thursday, Sept. 16: 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.; Wednesday, Sept. 29: 9 a.m. - noon Harper Student Center Gym Tuesday, Sept. 21: 11 a.m - 6 p.m. Please call 852-2922 with any questions, to schedule an appointment to donate, or to find out how you can help American Red Cross Blood Services. We also need platelet donors to help cancer and leukemia patients. The MUSC Apheresis Center is located in room 267, Main Hospital. Please call 792-3340 or 852-2922.  Y2K Message Preparing for the year 2000 is everybody's job.