How stimulating?
Federal plan may hold promise for UMMC projects
With the $787 billion economic stimulus package starting to spread into the U.S. economy, leaders of the University of Mississippi Medical Center say they’re ready to put the money to work.
Want to create permanent, high-skill jobs? We’ve got lots for researchers and teachers awaiting funding.
Want to improve health care in the nation’s poorest state? We’re building an electronic-records system that can be replicated statewide.
Want to employ contractors and get middle-America back to work? We’ve got projects.
The Medical Center’s target list includes projects ranging from the conceptual stage to nearly finished. At the same time, the exact manner and timetable of the federal funds flow-down remains somewhat foggy.
“It’s still so murky as to what’s in it. Everybody’s kind of waiting to see how it’s all going to shake out,” said Dr. David Dzielak, associate vice chancellor for strategic research alliance. “We’ve got our hand out and we’re hoping we get something put in it.”
Some of the priorities for the Medical Center include completing the top three floors of the Arthur C. Guyton Research Center, finishing plans, funding and staffing the Obesity Research Center and continuing work on the planned Biotechnology Research Park.
“The funds that will be provided to the National Institutes of Health likely will be directed to projects and infrastructure that can be implemented soon and that do not carry long-term obligations,” said Dr. John Hall, associate vice chancellor for research.
“For example, large-equipment grants, two-year grants, supplements for existing grants, etc., should be opportunities for UMMC researchers.”
Workers could finish the Guyton build-out by mid-2010. That would bring construction jobs in the near term and, in the longer term, research and laboratory positions. Its sixth floor will house the Obesity Center.
“We have a search committee for the Obesity Center director and have just begun the search,” Hall said.
Dzielak and Hall said they hope to buy laboratory equipment with funds from the bill, including a mass spectrometer and imaging equipment such as an MRI for research and in-vivo fluorescence imaging machines.
Supporting HI-TECH projects
No sooner than President Barack Obama signed the bill into law, University of Mississippi Health Care administrators and a consultant began looking into how they could tap the fund to establish an electronic health record system.
A portion of the stimulus package, the “HITECH Act,” allots $2 billion to states who have initiatives to adopt EHR technology.
“We are trying to determine our major EHR needs since there are limited funds available,” said Dodie McElmurray, administrator for clinical support services. “We want to seek the funds for the most critical projects that would have the biggest impact for us.”
Dr. Scott Stringer, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs and president of University Physicians, said electronic health records are helpful in speeding up patient care and reducing errors.
“They also improve communication among providers within our institution and with referring physicians across the state,” he said. “The acquisition of stimulus funds would allow us to implement a fully functional electronic health record much more rapidly, as the cost without these funds would make us have to implement this over a much longer period of time.”
McElmurray said electronic health information won’t have an immediate impact on the economy, but the HITECH Act will help with health-care costs in the long term by making delivery of health care more efficient.
The HITECH Act includes direct and state block grants to help fund regional and state initiatives. An estimated $19 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentive funds will be paid to eligible hospitals and providers that adopt EHR technology before 2015. That’s why time is of the essence, McElmurray said.
“The degree of integration of EHR could ultimately impact our reimbursement,” she said.
Bolstering health education
It could take months for the funding to filter into state coffers, but leadership of the Medical Center’s schools is thinking ahead with an eye on having some “shovel-ready” projects lined up.
Asked to speculate as to how the School of Nursing might put stimulus money to use, Dr. Kaye Bender, dean of the school, said it would likely go toward faculty retention and renovations.
“In the current budget situation, minus the stimulus, we find ourselves needing to consider cutting some part-time faculty positions,” Bender said. “If we were able to use the stimulus package funds for that, then we would keep those positions.”
Bender also said there is a plan in place for remodeling the skills lab/simulation center in the basement of the School of Nursing currently on hold that she would like to see get underway.
Dr. Buford O. “Butch” Gilbert, interim dean of the School of Dentistry, agreed that upgrades would likely be considered but did not discuss specific projects.
“With one-time money, I would think of faculty improvements,” he said.
The stimulus package includes $19 billion to help modernize health information technology systems. Ann Peden, associate professor of health information management in the School of Health Related Professions, is a member of a task force created by Gov. Haley Barbour to develop an ideal strategy and use of health technology to provide efficient consumer-friendly approaches to health-care delivery.
She said the package includes funds to help universities establish or enhance health informatics education programs with priority given to those that can be completed in six months or less.
“They are looking for things that are ‘shovel-ready,’ so we want to have an idea ready to present,” she said.
With that in mind, Peden said the task force is planning for a post-graduate certificate in health informatics to provide training for implementing health information technology. The program would take six months and be offered online.
“We could cover the whole state that way,” she said.
- Patrice Guilfoyle, Matt Westerfield and Jack Mazurak
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