Dear Colleague, 

Another warm, quiet week has passed, and with the reemergence of the “monsoon,” we are likely to have slightly cooler weather this coming week.  Monsoon is a weather term used here by our weather-fixated television stations that may be confusing to those who are new to Colorado and thought it referred to storms in the Indian subcontinent. Our monsoon season refers to the times during the summer when we have brief afternoon deluges.   

The American Association of Clinical Anatomists met in Denver last week and we hosted a postgraduate course for 40 or so of the attendees Saturday morning on campus at the Fulginiti Pavilion. I had a chance to welcome them and give a brief history of our almost finished Donor Memorial Garden, which is being constructed on the southeast corner of Building 500 just west of Education 1. (Someday we will have names on our buildings, I hope.)  Vic Spitzer, PhD, professor of cell and developmental biology, organized the session and it was nice to see David Whitlock, MD, PhD, professor emeritus of our Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, there as well. David and our former Dean M. Roy Schwarz, MD (1979-1983) have been honored lifetime members of this association.

Robert ‘Bob’ Anderson, MD, former chairman of the Department of Medicine, will once again join the School of Medicine, this time as our faculty accreditation lead with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). With his extensive knowledge of the School and its programs, Bob will manage our self-study process and coordinate the collection of data for the Medical Education Database. He will be the primary point of contact with the LCME Secretariat and the survey team secretary. Our next full survey from the LCME isn’t until 2016-2017, but we are preparing ourselves for the LCME age of continuous quality improvement. 

University of Colorado Health last week rolled out its statement of mission, vision and values – a basic framework for fulfilling the roles and responsibilities of each day. Everyone at University of Colorado Hospital (and, I suspect, at Memorial and Poudre Valley) were wearing T-shirts with the mission – “We improve lives” – on it. The whole mission statement is: “We improve lives. In big ways through learning, healing and discovery; in small, personal ways through human connection; but in all ways, we improve lives.” The vision: “From health care to health.” The values: “Patients first, Integrity, and Excellence.”  I like it. 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the symposium organized by University of Colorado Health to commemorate the opening of its new in-patient tower and emergency room. There were some superb talks that day by Darrell Kirch, MD, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Keith Yamamoto, PhD, vice chancellor for research at University of California, San Francisco. We now have a link to a video of the events of the day. It’s long and takes a while to load, but it’s worth it. Once it’s downloaded, you’re able to move around the 5+ hours of talks and discussions. Kirch’s talk begins at the 12-minute point; Pronovost at 1 hour, 25 minutes and Yamamoto at 3 hours, 5 minutes. 

Daniel Matlock, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, and colleagues published a study in JAMA last week that reviewed the rate of major cardiovascular procedures for nearly 6 million patients covered by Medicare. The study compared how often procedures are performed on patients in the capitated Medicare Advantage program and those in the Medicare fee-for-service system. They found that some patients, depending on where they are in the country, were more likely to get certain procedures regardless of the payment structure. 

The one-year anniversary of the Aurora theater shootings is Saturday, July 20. Community leaders are organizing a Day of Remembrance to honor and remember those whose lives were lost, survivors and their loved ones. There also will be a blood drive at the Aurora Municipal Center and many volunteer projects throughout the community. On the Anschutz Medical Campus, confidential counseling for all students, faculty and staff will be available this week to any who need assistance. Students may call Anschutz Medical Campus Student Mental Health at 303-724-4716. Faculty and staff may call University of Colorado Hospital Psychiatry Outpatient Department at 303-724-1000. 

Finally, my statement in last week’s email that I found the proposal for reorganization “intriguing” got a variety of responses. Some thought that meant I didn’t like it while others thought otherwise. I actually used the word very specifically, and if there are any faculty who are interested in hearing more about this, I will be having two open forums (following a discussion at the SOM Executive Committee Tuesday morning) to hear from any faculty who may have questions about what is being discussed. The first will be Wednesday, July 17, at 4 p.m. and the second, next Monday, July 22, at 4 p.m.  Both will be held in the Hensel -Phelps West Auditorium. 

Have a good week,

Richard D. Krugman, MD
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, School of Medicine

"What’s Going On Here" is an email news bulletin from Richard Krugman, MD, Dean of the CU School of Medicine, that is distributed to inform University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty members about issues pertaining to the School’s mission of education, research, clinical care and community service. See the UCH-Insider →

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