PHOENIX โ The governing body for the stateโs public university system will hire an outside expert to review concerns about the University of Arizonaโs medical schools.
After an executive session that lasted more than an hour Friday, the Arizona Board of Regents announced it would instruct the boardโs general counsel to hire an outside expert to โreview and evaluateโ concerns that have been raised about the UAโs medical schools in Tucson and Phoenix.
Chair Greg Patterson said the outside expert would submit a report to the boardโs general counsel and the board. Patterson said heโd like the review to be completed as quickly as possible. When asked whether that means before the end of the year, he said yes. While the review will be independent of the regents, the regents will be hiring the expert.
โItโs going to be a broad look at whatโs going on,โ he said. โWeโre doing a comprehensive evaluation, so its going to be full 360s of management style, structure, etc. Everybody is concerned with how public money was spent, and we have no reason to believe it was spent inappropriately.โ
Patterson said โnoโ when asked whether Phoenix-based Banner Healthโs relationship with the UA is expected to be part of the review.
The separately accredited medical schools, both governed by the same leadership at the UA, are at the moment the only two allopathic medical schools in Arizona and considered a valuable resource, particularly given a current and projected doctor shortage.
Patterson was not specific about the โconcerns raised,โ but at a regents health-affairs committee meeting in Tucson on Aug. 12, regents President Eileen Klein talked about use of public money and other issues.
โInformation has been brought forward that raises questions about the ethics of leaders, the use of public monies, the accuracy of information documented in public records and the workplace culture and treatment of employees,โ Klein said at the beginning of the Tucson meeting.
The regents board called Fridayโs special meeting to get legal advice and to discuss the UAโs two medical schools, which have been under increasing scrutiny .
In June, the Arizona Medical Association took a vote of โno confidenceโ in the executive leadership of the medical schools.
The 4,000-member association of physicians and medical students also called for an independent investigation into why six top leaders at the UA College of Medicine Phoenix, including dean Stuart Flynn, left the school earlier this year. The association said the departure of so many top leaders put into question the schoolโs stability and attempt to get full accreditation, a process that is ongoing.
Among the associationโs requests was for exit interviews with the deans who departed. The association publicly called on the regents to initiate an investigation into โany U of A organizational impediments or policies that contributed to the departures of the well-respected and quality team that was in place.โ
Patterson said the review the regents are doing appears to meet all the requests the medical association made and more. The review will include exit interviews with all six leaders who left the Phoenix school, he said.
โWe chose the word โoutside expertโ and I think thatโs the most accurate way to say it. Most outside experts in this are either HR (human resources) or law,โ Patterson said.
UA President Ann Weaver Hart attended the meeting and is happy about the boardโs decision, spokesman Chris Sigurdson said. Hart plans to conduct a โclimate surveyโ in all of the UAโs health-sciences colleges and will also, through a third party, conduct exit interviews with the departed deans.
Earlier this week, Hart also called for a separate outside probe, without any UA or regents involvement, to get to the bottom of Kleinโs comments made at the Tucson meeting.
Dr. Joe G.N. โSkipโ Garcia, who reports directly to Hart and is paid $870,000 per year, oversees all of the UAโs health colleges โ the UA College of Medicine Tucson, the UA College of Medicine Phoenix, the UA College of Pharmacy, the UA College of Nursing and the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. The total health sciences budget is $595 million per year.
Last year, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education wrote a letter to the Phoenix medical school saying changes would be needed in order to secure full accreditation for the school.
The accrediting body expressed concern about the recent academic affiliation between Banner Health and the UA. But the Phoenix medical school has since been granted provisional accreditation, which puts it on pace for full accreditation in 2017, UA officials say.
The medical schools in Tucson and Phoenix are in better shape than ever to attract top-flight students and give them a world-class medical education, Garcia said this week.
Garcia also defended himself against public criticism over recent reports of his travel costs, which have included chauffeur-driven limos between Tucson and Phoenix. The Arizona Republic this month published a story analyzing three years of Garciaโs travel costs, which included 56 trips between Tucson and Phoenix at a cost of $475 or more per day.
Garcia said he was maximizing his time as he needs to work during those trips and that hiring a driver was suggested by Hart. He also said heโd be willing to rethink how he travels if thereโs a more effective and cost-efficient way to do it.
At the root of some of the criticism, he told the Star, could be ongoing rivalry between Tucson and Phoenix. He says itโs in the UAโs interest for both medical schools to be successful.
The UAโs College of Medicine in Tucson is the more established medical school. It was founded in 1967, has a class size goal of 115 students per year and a budget of $365 million per year.
The UA College of Medicine in Phoenix, which sits amid a growing biomedical campus in the cityโs downtown core, is 9 years old, has a goal class size of 80 students per year and a budget of $77 million per year.
