Originally Released: March, 1999
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MEDICAL SYSTEM ANNOUNCES CORPORATE REORGANIZATION
A corporate reorganization announced today will position the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and its components to better compete in the complex health care marketplace of the 21st Century, said President and Chief Executive Officer Morton I. Rapoport, M.D.
Under the new structure, Dr. Rapoport, along with a corporate management team, will provide leadership in the areas of capital acquisition, broad strategic direction and system growth. In addition, the System will be organized into two separate business groups the academic medical center group, comprised of the University of Maryland Medical Center (includes University Hospital, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center); and the community hospital group (includes Kernan and Deaton Hospitals and Maryland General Health Systems).
The business groups will focus on two different segments of the health care marketplace the specialized high technology health care provided by an academic medical center and community medicine. The two new divisions will allow top managers to focus on patient care, developing specific clinical programs and services, improving collections and productivity, decreasing costs, and reducing utilization.
"In the past 15 years, since the Medical System became a private, non-profit enterprise separate from the state, the health care marketplace has become increasingly competitive and complex," said Frank P. Bramble, chairman of the board of directors of the University of Maryland Medical System and chief executive officer of First Maryland Bancorp.
"This reorganization will allow the System's corporate leadership to focus on business growth and strategic opportunities while the academic medical center and the community hospital groups can concentrate on developing clinical programs and services that will enhance our competitive advantage," said Bramble.
In addition to Dr. Rapoport, who remains president and CEO, the Medical System corporate executive management includes Robert A. Chrencik, executive vice president and chief financial officer and Nelson Sabatini, executive vice president for community hospital integration and network development.
In the community hospitals division, James E. Ross will continue as chief executive officer of Deaton and Kernan Hospitals, and James R. Wood will continue as a Medical System executive vice president and the chief executive officer of Maryland General Health Systems.
Former cancer researcher Stephen C. Schimpff, M.D., currently the System's executive vice president, becomes CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center. Under Dr. Schimpff, Senior Vice President John W. Ashworth III becomes chief operating officer with responsibility for all patient care services and operations. Henry J. Franey becomes senior vice president and chief financial officer. Alison G. Brown becomes senior vice president for planning, marketing and business development; and Katherine McCullough, R.N., becomes senior vice president for patient care services.
Dr. Rapoport led the Medical System out of years of deficit operations when, in 1984, it became only the second public academic medical center to go private. Since then, the Medical System has built a national reputation in transplantation services, cancer research and trauma care.
Under his leadership, the Medical System grew by adding Deaton and Kernan Hospitals and the Maryland General Health Systems, establishing community health centers in Baltimore and suburban specialty outpatient offices, and by building a new Shock Trauma building and a nationally recognized patient care facility, the Gudelsky Building.
Current plans call for constructing a new building that will house a new emergency department, new operating suites and other priority clinical programs. In the last 12 years, the Medical System has invested more than $500 million in new construction, renovations and technological upgrades in order to offer the most advanced medical care in Maryland.
"I am confident that the new structure will free the University of Maryland Medical Center, the heart of the Medical System, to pursue its mission of academic excellence and premier patient care without the distractions of performing system-wide functions," said Dr. Rapoport.
"We have achieved much in the past 15 years, but the changes in health care financing and the need to look at new markets require us to change as well," he said. "This reorganization will accelerate growth and release entrepreneurial energy."
Founded as the Baltimore Infirmary in 1823, the University of Maryland Medical System is one of the oldest teaching hospitals in the country. Today, it is a $700 million enterprise licensed for 1500 beds.
There are 800 doctors on the medical staff of the University of Maryland Medical Center, all of whom are on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which works in partnership with the Medical Center to provide standard-setting care and research for the people of Maryland.
Dr. Rapoport trained at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and focused his medical career on infectious diseases. He was chief of the medical service of the Baltimore Veterans Administration Hospital and senior associate dean of the School of Medicine.
The author of more than 40 scientific and management publications, Dr. Rapoport continues to be a professor of medicine at the School of Medicine and professor of clinical pharmacy in the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
In his previous role as executive vice president of the Medical System, Dr. Schimpff was responsible for operations, finances, strategic planning, marketing and program development and was a principal architect of the institutional vision, its articulation, its acceptance and its achievement.
Before becoming executive vice president of the Medical System, Dr. Schimpff was director of the University of Maryland Cancer Center. Previously, he headed the section of infectious diseases and microbiology at the Baltimore Cancer Research Center, which was part of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Schimpff is a professor of medicine and oncology at the School of Medicine and professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
###
This page was last updated on: July 19, 2011.