Beginning in January, Detroit-based Wayne State University School of Medicine and its affiliates will implement a turnaround plan that they hope will lead to fewer financial losses, according to Crain's Detroit Business.
The medical school's affiliates include Wayne State University Physician Group and the Fund for Medical Research and Education. FMRE collects money from UPG, which assists in subsidizing medical school salaries and benefits for staff. Both organizations and the medical school have posted significant losses this year. In fiscal year 2015, the medical school lost $7 million, UPG lost $9 million and FMRE lost $13 million.
"We have a critical and serious problem," said Jack Sobel, MD, dean of the medical school during a Nov. 30 town hall meeting. "Most [private] companies [in this situation] would declare bankruptcy. As a university, we can't do that."
The fiscal problems began to escalate in 2009 when a contract dispute with Detroit Medical Center left Wayne State University and Wayne State School of Medicine with less funding.
Wayne State began to take action in May, when President M. Roy Wilson, MD, "sounded the alarm" on the university's financial difficulties. In June, Dr. Wilson hired David Hefner, former CEO of Augusta-based Georgia Regents Medical Center and Medical Associates, as vice president of health affairs. Mr. Hefner has been charged with reviewing Wayne State's financial issues.
Mr. Hefner is leading a turnaround committee to restructure the financial state of the medical school. To improve, Mr. Hefner and his team plan to improve billing, collections and communications at WayneState's affiliated medical groups, and to encourage researchers to bring in additional grant money.