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MUSC staff voice concerns during meeting by Dick Peterson Public Relations Questions and concerns voiced at the Medical University's Town Hall meeting for staff last week focused on efforts to attract and retain skilled personnel while managing the costs of employee benefits. Whether the issue be paid time off under the new Hospital Authority, a national nursing shortage as it is felt close to home, employee parking, a freeze on hiring, or reimbursement for travel, it was the university’s critical employee benefits balancing act under a debilitating revenue shortage that dominated the event. Dr. Ray Greenberg interacts with MUSC staff during a Town Hall Meeting, March 7. As MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., fielded questions, he repeatedly urged questioners to send e-mail to him so he could answer them directly.  “I don’t want anyone here to feel they are not valued,” he said. But the perceived inequities and hardships aired at the meeting revealed that many do see their service to MUSC as unappreciated. They cited lost time off, no pay increase for holiday work, “unreasonable” parking restrictions and rates, and staff shortages that prevent time and travel for professional improvement. Greenberg explained that the paid time off policy that came with the Medical Center’s shift to a Medical University Hospital Authority was carefully crafted to compete with other hospital plans. “We'll continue to watch that, to reexamine it so we can be competitive with a full benefits package that will be an incentive to people, that will attract and retain them.” In light of the highly publicized national nursing shortage, Greenberg said that it is not in MUSC’s interest to have to lose, retrain and bring new nurses into the hospital system. He said he supports programs to attract MUSC-trained nurses and encourage them to stay. Citing tuition reimbursement and child care as two benefits he would like to see in place at MUSC, Greenberg said that an institution of higher education above all should encourage employees to advance. He said the present system that leaves the reimbursement decision up to the departments is rife with inequities. “And the reality is that we have a workforce, many of whom have young children, and that affects the lives of the people who work here.” He expressed embarrassment that MUSC lacks this basic benefit that is an accepted necessity at many institutions. Touting a now-forming wellness program, Greenberg said that programs are being developed in stress management, nutrition, diet, weight management, and physical fitness to give people reason to count it a privilege to work here. “People should feel valued,” he said. Shifting to parking concerns, Greenberg said that the realities of MUSC’s location on the Charleston peninsula puts parking at a premium. With little room to spread out, MUSC can only resort to building parking garages that have to be paid for with parking fees. While patient parking is free, employee parking is not.  “We’re a business and patients are our customers,” he said. “We have to make it attractive to come here.” He said that accessibility will be a major concern in any future expansion. He cited developing the old Charleston High School property as one long-term solution to the parking shortage. One participant in the town meeting for staff suggested using smaller buses that could make more frequent circuits from the outlying Hagood lot to campus. The larger buses now in use usually wait for a full or near-full load, forcing passengers to waste valuable work time, he said.  He feared the situation could develop into an employee safety problem when people find it is quicker to walk the route to the MUSC campus than it is to ride the bus.  State Spending Cuts Cuts in state spending to be imposed on South Carolina universities as recommended by the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee amount to more than $500 million. Here is a comparative list of funding cuts recommended for state universities: University      Received in      Ways/Means            Percent Cut                        FY 2000/01       Comm. Proposal Lander               11,465,205       9,291,487                      19% SC State            26,800,891     22,092,228                       18% Clemson          106,602,559     92,932,016                       13% USC                182,753,657    160,380,899                       12% Winthrop           23,199,449     20,459,685                      12% Francis Marion   15,655,729     13,887,343                      11% The Citadel        17,620,390      15,647,703                    11% MUSC               101,439,322     99,080,032                     2%