After a special meeting held in executive session today, the Arizona Board of Regents announced it would hire an outside expert to review concerns about the University of Arizona's medical schools.
The regents board, which is the governing body for the state's public university system, called the special meeting to get legal advice and discuss the UA's two medical schools, which have been under increasing scrutiny in recent months.
The outside expert will compile information and review and evaluate concerns raised pertaining to the UA colleges of medicine and submit a report to the boards general counsel and to the board, regents chair Greg Patterson told reporters today.
Patterson said he'd like the outside review to be done as quickly as possible, and he confirmed it would be complete before the end of the year.
Patterson was not specific about the "concerns raised," but at a regents health affairs committee meeting in Tucson Aug. 12 regents president Eileen Klein referred to concerns about the spending of public money.
"Information 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," Klein said at the beginning of the Tucson meeting.
In June the Arizona Medical Association took a vote of "no confidence" 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 also expressed concern that the departure of so many top leaders could affect the school's attempt to see full accreditation, a process that is ongoing.
The association asked for exit interviews with the departed deans and publicly called on the Arizona Board of Regents to initiate an investigation into, "any U of A organizational impediments or policies that contributed to the departures of the well-respected and quality team that was in place."
Patterson said the review that the regents are doing appears to meet all the requests that the medical association made, and more. The review will include exit interviews will all six leaders that left the Phoenix medical school.
UA president Ann Weaver Hart attended the meeting and is happy about the board's decision, spokesman Chris Sigurdson said.
Dr. Joe G.N. "Skip" Garcia, who reports directly to Hart and earns $870,000 per year, oversees all of the UA’s health colleges — 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.
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 health science 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 his travel costs, which have included chauffeur-driven limos between Tucson and Phoenix. The Arizona Republic earlier this month did a story analyzing three years of Garcia's 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 says that hiring a driver was suggested by Hart. He also said he'd be willing to re-think how he travels if there's a more effective and cost-efficient way to do it.
