Journal of Healthcare Management - March/April 2015 - (Page 86)

O P E R A T I O N S A N D S T R A T E G Y The Scale Imperative for Academic Medical Centers: Part 2-Case Study Alan M. Zuckerman, FACHE, FAAHC, president, Health Strategies & Solutions, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Robert N. Golden, MD, Robert Turell professor in medical leadership, dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health, and vice chancellor for medical affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison I n our previous column in this series (see the Operations and Strategy column in the January/February 2015 issue of JHM), we describe the scale imperative for academic medical centers (AMCs) if they wish to remain viable in a healthcare landscape characterized by consolidation, increasingly closed systems, new reimbursement models, decreased funding, and other challenges. In addition, we describe AMCs' approaches to achieving adequate scale in terms of our five-category framework. The framework, with additional examples, is revisited in the sidebar on page 87 of this issue. Here, we discuss the case of one AMC-UW Health-that has embarked on the journey to developing scale. It hopes to leverage scale in shoring up its ability to support its missions of research and education. A B O U T U W H E A LT H UW Health is the umbrella organization for the clinical operations of the various University of Wisconsin-Madison entities-UW School of Medicine and Public Health, UW Medical Foundation (the academic group practice), and UW Hospital and Clinics (the academic teaching hospital). Located in Madison, Wisconsin, a relatively small market in south central Wisconsin, UW Health's clinical mission involves providing service locally, regionally, statewide, and across state lines into the adjacent states of Illinois and Iowa. UW Health has had excellent financial performance for the past 15 years and remains strong today. UW School of Medicine and Public Health's academic performance and reputation also have been consistently strong throughout this period. THE DECISION TO SCALE UP In addition to the national trends affecting all AMCs, UW Health faced a number of external conditions that influenced its decision to scale up: * It is surrounded by five large regional/national systems-Mayo Clinic, Ministry Health Care/Ascension Health, Aurora Health Care, Advocate Health Care, and UnityPoint Health-that have been growing rapidly and moving toward 86

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of Healthcare Management - March/April 2015

Interview With Joel T. Allison, FACHE, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health
The Scale Imperative for Academic Medical Centers: Part 2—Case Study
The Mayo Model of Community Care: Integrating Population Health and Patient Experience Initiatives for Efficient Reform
Organizational Characteristics Associated With Fundraising Performance of Nonprofit Hospitals
Physical Work Environment as a Managerial Tool for Decreasing Job-Related Anxiety and Improving Employee-Employer Relations
Burnout Among Primary Care Physicians: A Test of the Areas of Worklife Model

Journal of Healthcare Management - March/April 2015