Financial problems could force school to lose some autonomy

Tuesday, June 16, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

Higher education administrators on Monday cited an inefficient bill-collecting system and delays in getting new teaching physicians licensed to practice medicine in Nevada as two sources of blame for the school's financial woes.

This year, after switching to a new computer system, the school was collecting on 27 percent of its billing claims, compared with 47 percent previously, said David Schapira, the medical school's senior associate dean.

Another problem was a delay, in as many as 17 cases, in getting teaching physicians properly licensed so they could become "productive members" of the school's practice plans, said Tom Anderes, vice chancellor for finance for the University and Community College System of Nevada.

Under the practice plan concept, the school's teaching physicians - some of Las Vegas' leading medical experts and practitioners - treat patients and make enough money to pay the bulk of their salaries.

Administrators at the University of Nevada, Reno, which runs the medical school, agreed earlier this spring to temporarily cover up to $1.5 million in practice plan debt, Anderes said. With a plan to increase its billing collections and with its teaching physicians in Las Vegas and Reno making money for the practice plans, the medical school is expected to settle its debt with UNR and be running in the black again by next summer, he said.

Meanwhile, Anderes and top UNR administrators will have a greater role in overseeing the practice plans' management, Anderes said.

"It's not as if the medical school is bankrupt," Schapira said. "This is a cashflow problem. There's no need to panic."

The Board of Regents, which two years ago pledged to keep closer watch over the medical school after the Las Vegas internal medicine department announced plans to quit because they were at odds with Dean Robert Daugherty, was caught off guard by this year's continued troubles.

At a meeting Thursday and Friday in Reno, board members will consider measures to bring greater oversight to the medical school's financial affairs.

"We feel an adequate oversight structure was not in place, and we are going to correct that," said Board of Regents Chairwoman Jill Derby. Included in a five-point "action plan" is the creation of a Board of Regents health-care issues committee.

Derby blamed Daugherty for mismanagement of the practice plans and continued morale problems, but she stopped short of saying he should be fired.

"It's Joe Crowley's call, and Dean Daugherty still enjoys enough confidence from Joe," Derby said, referring to UNR's president. "Joe feels the dean is still doing a positive job."

Regent Shelley Berkley added, "The problems will be fixed or those in charge will be gone."