University Times

University staff who spend more than 50 percent of their time on the job supporting the clinical activities of Pitt faculty practice plans are scheduled to be transferred to a new employer on Jan. 1, 1999 — the University of Pittsburgh Physicians (UPP) Management Co.

The move is part of UPMC Health System's planned acquisition of UPP, which is being formed by a merger of the 18 currently independent Pitt faculty practice plans.

About 50 nurses, physicians assistants and secretaries now employed by the University will be affected, Pitt and UPP Human Resources officials estimate.

"No one will lose his or her job, and their job duties will not change, although their job titles will change. Nobody will take a pay cut, but their fringe benefits may change," said Anna Roman-Koller, who is sharing the new job of UPP Management Co. vice president for administration with Jodi Buntain.

Roman-Koller is assistant chairperson of Pitt's pathology department. Buntain is vice president for clinical support services at UPMC Health System.

Besides the usual uncertainties of switching employers, the possible change in fringe benefits is worrying some affected staff, said Brian Hart, president of Pitt's Staff Association Council.

Many people take staff jobs at the University largely to get tuition benefits for themselves, their spouses or their children, Hart noted.

"The loss of tuition benefits could be devastating for some of these people," he said.

Health insurance and retirement plan options also could change for staff transferring from Pitt to UPP.

Details of UPP's employee benefits package won't be set for at least another month or two, Buntain and Roman-Koller said. UPP itself isn't fully operational yet, they pointed out.

Ron Frisch, Pitt associate vice chancellor for Human Resources, said "it's not impossible" that UPP, Pitt and UPMC could work out a deal to offer University tuition remission to UPP employees or at least to grandfather Pitt benefits for staff forced to transfer from the University to UPP. "But that would be a UPP decision," Frisch emphasized.

"What I can tell you," he added, "is that a year ago, when the practice plans' central billing office was moved from the University to UPMC, the medical center worked out a transition plan for the Pitt staff who had to transfer to UPMC as a result of that move. The plan included maintaining a full array of benefits [for the transferred staff], including tuition remission.

"Beyond that, I wouldn't want to make any predictions for fear of getting people's hopes up unrealistically," Frisch said.

Pitt clinical staff will have the option of seeking transfers to other staff positions within the University. Frisch said he has assigned two Human Resources employment specialists to work with such staff.

"If you're a specialized nurse in a specialized practice plan, quite frankly, we probably won't have a position like that at the University anymore, and people with jobs like those probably would prefer to go to UPP rather than take a lower-level position at the University. But for people with less specific jobs, we'll do our best to help them transfer to comparable jobs at Pitt," Frisch said.

Roman-Koller and Buntain said they have been visiting clinical departments in recent weeks, meeting with chairpersons and staff members, reviewing (and, in some cases, updating) job descriptions to determine which employees must transfer to UPP.

Overall, about 400 employees currently employed by Pitt, UPMC and the 18 individual practice plans will be transferred to UPP in January.

"Originally, we thought 67-70 Pitt employees would be affected. Now that's down to about 50," Buntain said.

Early rumors of a larger Pitt-to-UPP staff migration upset many employees, according to Staff Association Council President Hart. In some cases, he said, ill-informed department chairpersons told all of their staff they would be transferred, when in fact only a handful will go.

"There was a serious lack of communication," Hart said at the March 16 Senate Council meeting. "It is unacceptable to talk about what may appear to be widespread staff changes without any particular course of action or plan." In an interview, Frisch acknowledged: "It's true, there was miscommunication based on bad information in the cases of some department administrators. It scared people, as it would any of us." Frisch credited UPP executive director Gregory Peaslee with appointing Buntain and Roman-Koller to help with the transition and counter the rumors.

— Bruce Steele