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UNLV School of Medicine Town Hall meeting with UNSOM faculty.

Issue 21 - Nov. 17, 2015

Making the Rounds with Founding Dean Barbara Atkinson

Friends and Colleagues,

One project consuming a lot of my time is what we internally refer to as "the transition". It involves two overall goals: (1) moving the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM) third- and fourth-year medical student programs to Reno; and (2) transferring UNSOM's faculty, residency programs, facilities, and physician practices based in Las Vegas to the UNLV School of Medicine.

What does this involve?

UNSOM will begin to offer all four years of their curriculum in Reno, which means they will need to build clerkships that don't currently exist in Reno and expand others.
UNSOM's third-year students will complete their training at the Renown Hospital, while their fourth year students will finish much of their education in Reno, but some may take electives in Las Vegas.
UNSOM faculty who choose to live and work in Las Vegas can become employees of UNLV School of Medicine.
UNSOM residency programs will become UNLV residency programs taught by the many of the same faculty at the same hospitals.
Clinical practices, where students and residents see patients under faculty supervision, will continue but will be expanded.
A brand new physician practice plan will be developed and implemented by next spring.
Work to move and finalize nearly 3,000 contracts related to these functions: transfer of faculty from one medical school to another; change affiliation agreements for each residency and medical student program; and change contracts for payment for physician services.

I started hosting Town Hall meetings entitled, "From Blue to Red", to ensure residents in the Las Vegas graduate medical education programs, as well as faculty, staff, students, and patients understand our program, the transition, and time frame. The first Town Hall meeting was held on October 20 and included an excellent group of residents. Last week we held another Town Hall with UNSOM faculty and staff. The best part of the meetings is the question/answer period. I really enjoy hearing and addressing the questions, concerns, and ideas.

Residents who started their residency by July 2015 or after will graduate under the UNLV banner so timing of the transition is important to them. Since most residency programs are three or more years the transition affects many of the residents. All the residency programs in Las Vegas will continue. We also are developing additional residency programs that currently don't exist in Las Vegas.

The process for receiving accreditation to teach residents is a completely different process than the one we are pursuing to teach medical students and grant a MD degree. The accrediting agency for medical residencies is called the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The person responsible for managing residency programs has the title of "Designated Institutional Official" (DIO). We're very fortunate because Miriam Bar-on, MD, the associate dean for graduate medical education and DIO at UNSOM, has also agreed to be our DIO during this transition. Dr. Bar-on is one of the best DIOs in the country, and recently received the ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award. She will join the UNLV School of Medicine full-time by July 2017, and will work with the ACGME to help us transfer all residency and fellowship programs to UNLV.

As you can see, there is still a lot of work ahead and we are all working together to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Best wishes,

Barbara

Physicians: Save the Date

The Clark County Medical Society and UNLV School of Medicine are co-hosting a Town Hall meeting for Southern Nevada physicians. Please join us on December 9 from 6-8 pm at The Innevation Center, 6795 S. Edmond St., Las Vegas. Learn about the school's blue print for educating future physicians, developing community partnerships, and growing medical research.