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UMA's president announces practice plan recovery For the first time in many years, University Medical Associates, MUSC’s physicians’ practice plan, has achieved what its recently amended by-laws mandate: It has balanced its budget. In a letter to all Medical Associates members, UMA President Bruce Elliott, M.D., said that a meeting 12 months ago in which the UMA membership discussed the financial realities confronting the organization and endorsed the required steps to be taken, “allowed UMA to establish itself as a financially viable entity.  “The following month our new CEO, Bruce Quinlan, arrived and immediately started the hard work of translating your mandate into actions.” Elliott said that the UMA executive committee operated on the premise that increased taxes were not an option. Interest costs on the organization’s line of credit were in excess of a million dollars annually. The credit balance has been reduced from $14.5 million last year to zero this past month. That balance reduction alone will save UMA $1.7 million in interest payments next year, Elliott reported. “Diminishing reimbursements required that we re-examine the size, role, costs and importance of Carolina Family Care to our organization,” Elliott said. “The outcome is a different CFC, which is more appropriately sized and reflective of our organizational needs, resulting in an anticipated $3 million to $3.5 million savings during this next year for both the hospital and UMA.” The restructuring allowed UMA to maintain a competitive presence in the managed care market and assures a continued source of referrals, he said. UMA converted 475 employees to the Medical University Hospital Authority, as mandated by federal law, substantially reducing UMA’s personnel expenses and simplifying the ambulatory care agreement with the Hospital Authority. A new paid time-off policy has reduced personnel expenses, and employee benefits costs have improved by pricing UMA’s self-insured health insurance premiums closer to their actual costs. In addition to controlling costs, UMA members have been “incredibly productive,” Elliott said. Reimbursements are $6.2 million ahead of last year, the result of UMA’s contracting committee and business offices working to maximize reimbursement.  “Are we done? Have we accomplished what we set out to do?” he asked. “No, not yet. “Our plan anticipates that UMA will be on a full cash basis with cash in every departmental account equal to its stated reserves sometime in 2007,” he said. “I think the incredible thing is this remarkable turn-around has occurred despite two years of state budget cuts and freezes on non-essential spending in the College of Medicine.” Elliott concluded with an expression of gratitude for the help and support members have given to make UMA’s recovery possible.     Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.