University Times

Pitt does not run the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) hospitals. They are owned and operated by the UPMC System, Inc., which is a separate corporation.

But many people outside the University, as well as inside, apparently don’t know that.

During the April 8 Senate Council meeting, faculty and administrators debated whether debated whether the University is suffering – financially and politically – because of confusion over the Pitt-UPMC relationship.

Several professors suggested that Harrisburg lawmakers and private donors may be reluctant to give funds to Pitt when they read about multi-million dollar hospital acquisitions by the UPMC System.

Interim Chancellor Mark Nordenberg acknowledged that the general public may be confused by newspaper stories about the UPMC System with misleading headlines such as "Pitt Flexes Its Medical Muscle." But Nordenbeg said he believes most state and local lawmakers do not share the confusion.

Pitt’s Harrisburg lobbyists have been working with state legislators to make sure they understand the difference between Pitt (including its medical school) and the UPMC hospitals, Nordenberg said.

In some cases, politicians intentionally try to blur the distinction between Pitt and the hospital systems, according to Nordenberg and Thomas Detre, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences.

A recent example: During the debate over the future of Bigelow Boulevard between Forbes and Fifth avenues, City Council President Jim Ferlo said that if Pitt wants to create more "green space" near campus, it should plant grass at the site formerly occupied by the Syria Mosque. Currently, a parking lot occupies the site.

Ferlo implied that Pitt owns the Mosque site, but it does not. The UPMC System owns it.

Nordenberg said: "I think that the president of the City Council obviously knows very well the relationship that exists between the medical center and the University, based upon my conversations with him. But tactically, it may have been advantageous for him [Ferlo] to blur those lines at this particular time."

Council member Christina Bratt Paulston sparked the Senate Council discussion when she introduced a motion to withdraw the medical center’s right to use the words "University of Pittsburgh" in its name.

Ultimately, Senate Council voted to table the motion (which means it will be on the agenda for the next Council meeting on May 13). Even if Council had endorsed Paulston’s proposal, the vote probably wouldn’t have carried much weight. Senate Council actions are advisory only, and two senior administrators who serve on Council – Interim Chancellor Nordenberg and Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences Detre – spoke against Paulston’s motion.

But as one professor noted at the end of the meeting, the motion struck a nerve among Council members.

James Holland, who seconded Paulston’s motion, said: "It’s real clear that there is a lot of confusion over the relationship [between Pitt and the UPMC system]. I don’t know about the [Pennsylvania] legislature, but I think other people wonder why they should contribute to the University when the University seems to have millions of dollars to buy hospitals with.

"That confusion is rampant and is hazardous to us, I think. Possibly, it’s also hazardous to the medical center, I don’t know. But I’d like to encourage them to change their name," Holland said.

Detre said the Pitt-UPMC relationship is structured to protect the University against any financial setbacks suffered by the UPMC system, while ensuring that Pitt faculty and students have access to the hospitals for research, clinical work, and instruction. All hospital publications state that the UPMC System is a separate corporation from Pitt, Detre said.

"As much as some people occasionally feel that news about the medical center is detrimental to the rest of the University, I could make an equally good case that the opposite is also true," Detre added. "I’m not denying the first point, I’m simply saying there is also another side to it."

Holland agreed that the University’s reputation benefits from breakthroughs achieved by Pitt medical school faculty at the UPMC System hospitals. "The issue isn’t the medical school, which is very much a part of the University, with a distinguished faculty. This issue is the UPMC System," Holland said.

Contributing to the confusion about the Pitt-UPMC relationship is the existence of a UPMC Division. Unlike the system, the division is part of the University. It is responsible for the fiscal, administrative and clinical components of Pitt’s School of Medicine and its clinical practice plans.

In February, the Board of Trustees commissioned a "white paper" to spell out the often-overlapping relationships among the UPMC Division, the UPMC System hospitals, and the rest of the University. The report will be released to the public and could be a starting point for discussions among trustees about the future of the Pitt-UPMC relationship, according to board chairperson J. Wray Connolly.

In a University Times interview in January, Connolly said: "It may be that the relationship is fine the way it is. But you can’t even begin to talk about changes until you define what the current arrangement is. I would say the purpose of this committee report is to clear the decks of misunderstandings and misinformation. Then we can decide what we ought to do."

A subcommittee of the board’s health science committee is writing the report with the help of a four-person advisory group headed by Robert Dunkelman, secretary to the board.

Also serving with the group is George Huber, UPMC vice president and counsel; Jeffrey Masnick, UPMC vice president for Budgeting and Financial Planning; and Art Ramicone, Pitt associate vice chancellor for Budget and Administration.

The subcommittee plans to present a report to the health sciences committee in May, Nordenberg told Senate Council. The report may be released to the University community in early summer, he said.

Pitt’s University Planning and Budget Committee also has been trying to clarify the University-UPMC connection.

Bruce Steele