Return to Nicholas Johnson's Iowa Rain Forest ("Earthpark") Web Site

Return to Nicholas Johnson's Blog, FromDC2Iowa
 
 

[Note: This material is copyright by The Gazette, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of The Gazette.]

  That change will include appointing Dr. Jean Robillard, dean of the medical college, to additional duties as vice president for medical affairs. Donna Katen-Bahensky, University Hospitals’ chief executive officer, will be the associate vice president for medical affairs and report to Robillard, who will report to the UI president.

  Also playing prominent roles will be University Hospitals’ chief financial officer, who will fill a position that is now vacant but will be expanded; a chief medical officer of inpatient services, who is to be hired; and University Hospitals nursing officials.

  Fethke said the moves would emphasize integrated patient services and streamlined clinical functions at University Hospitals’ multimillion-dollar enterprise, the UI physicians’ group and the medical college’s non-academic functions.

  ‘‘We want to work to improve the patient experience from their perspective,’’ he told medical college faculty.

  Fethke discussed the plan Monday during a series of meetings with the faculty and University Hospitals employees. The state Board of Regents is to discuss it Thursday during a special meeting at its Urbandale board office. The meeting can be monitored by phone at various locations, including 105 Jessup Hall at the UI.

  Robillard and Katen-Bahensky said the new system is an extension of cooperative work they already do. ‘‘I think we can really dominate not just this market but academic medicine in general,’’ Robillard said.

  Accomplishments Fethke expects from the change include: cross management of UI clinics; simplified billing; better access to clinics both in Iowa City and elsewhere; possibly more clinic locations away from the hospital as driven by the market; and improved clinic performance by use standard practices.

  University Hospitals is doing well financially, Fethke said. This system is a response to a changing competitive environment in health care and the growing wave of patient consumerism, he said. Fethke said it is unrelated to discussions during the UI presidential search to have a vice president for health sciences, and that he and other UI officials have worked on the plan for months. The unit will not oversee all of health sciences, which include dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and public health, he said. Salaries for Robillard and Katen-Bahensky will remain the same for now, though Fethke will review other senior staff salaries.

 • UI Carver College of Medicine dean since 2003.
 • Earned bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Montreal.
 • Pediatric nephrologist working on developmental physiology of the kidney.
 • Has published more than 220 scientific papers.
 • UI faculty member, 1974-96; University of Michigan chair and professor of pediatrics and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital’s physician-in-chief, 1996-2003.

 • University Hospitals director and CEO since 2002. Also professor in the College of Public Health’s Department of Health Management.
 • Undergraduate degree in anthropology and master’s degree in public health administration, emphasis in health services management, from the University of Missouri.
 • Before joining the UI, executive vice president and CEO of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia Hospitals and Clinics.
  Also was chief operating officer, plus other positions, at University of Nebraska Medical Center.
  Source: University of Iowa