SUBJECT:  Medical Group Reorganization

Our institution is committed to excellence in multiple missions: education, patient care, research and public service. We depend on the efforts of faculty and staff to provide a foundation of excellence, and as an administration we have an obligation to provide a framework to support you.

To this end, we have been evaluating the administrative structure of the UCSD Medical Group. Today I am announcing changes that we feel will best support the continuous improvement of the Medical Group’s business functions, and reinforce the importance of patient and employee satisfaction as an institutional priority.

The basis of this restructuring is the division of business functions from the areas that can be considered patient services. Tom Jackiewicz, Chief of Staff for the Health Sciences, will continue to have responsibility for business activities, and Tom McAfee, M.D., Physician in Chief for UCSD Healthcare, will be responsible for patient service operations.

Dr. McAfee will be responsible for those operational areas that impact the delivery of service, and ultimately the satisfaction of our patients, physicians and employees. With the upcoming retirement of Mary Ann Crawford, McAfee will be recruiting a new Chief of Ambulatory Operations who will work with him and our Medical Group physicians and staff on addressing access, scheduling and efficiency issues, and on implementing improvements in these functions within our clinics. Medical Director for Ambulatory Operations Larry Friedman, M.D., will be part of this administrative team.

Scott Hofferber, Chief of Operations for the Medical Group, will continue to report to Chief of Staff Tom Jackiewicz, and will concentrate on the improvement of the business functions of the Medical Group. These functions include finance, billing activities, contracting, and the collection and analysis of data. Scott Hofferber has already achieved considerable improvement in these areas, and with the implementation of new data collection systems we anticipate even greater successes in our ability to maximize reimbursement for the services we provide.

These changes will allow us to fully capitalize on the talents of our administrative leadership and bring renewed focus and energy to the delivery of patient care and the management of our Medical Group.

                                                Sincerely,

                                                Edward W. Holmes, M.D.
                                                Vice Chancellor and Dean