State of the Georgia Regents Health System and University Enterprise Dr. Ricardo Azziz 3/3/14
ASPIRE TO GREATNESS Good afternoon. I am pleased and tremendously proud to be able to speak to you today as President of the Georgia Regents University and as CEO of the Georgia Regents Health System. There are times in the life of every institution, community, region, or nation when we must act and embrace transformative change. And a few years ago, we were—without question—in one of those historic moments in time. And so began our epic journey together. With the winds of change blowing all around us, we made a choice. We chose to harness the power of those winds and chart a new path forward. As the poet Carl Sandburg reminds us in “Washington Monument by Night,” “Nothing happens unless first a dream.” And what a dream we had! Nothing less than being the Next Great American University. We set our sights high. And we didn’t just aim to be good, or even better. Instead, we decided to Aspire to Greatness. Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering at Google, has talked about the dramatically increasing pace of change in today’s world. He reminds us that today, “Organizations have to be able to redefine themselves at a faster and faster pace.” In his view “The 21st century will be the equivalent of 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate of change.“ And it’s clear that the work we’ve done—the work YOU’VE done—over the past four years has been the equivalent of many, many years of effort. But that probably doesn’t surprise you. You, more than anyone, know it’s been an enormous amount of effort, a lot of hard work. But the good news is … WE DID IT! We’ve weathered the rough seas of transformation and landed safe and healthy on the other shore. Page 1 of 13
It sounds simple, but make no mistake—Many, many organizations fail in attempting to do what we have done. But not us. Because of your extraordinary efforts, your talents, and your resilience in the face of change, we succeeded when so many others have not—and you deserve to take great pride in that. So today I’m going to speak to you about what we have accomplished and more importantly how that affects each and every one of you, and I’m going to describe where that puts us today, and where do we go from here. In 2010 we had a dream … a vision: • We wanted to create a top-tier university with state, national, and global relevance and impact. •
We wanted to be a galvanizing economic engine for our community and for our state.
•
We wanted to become a destination of choice for the training and education of our next generation of learners and explorers, and
•
We wanted to be a catalyst for discovery and innovation.
And FOUR critical achievements that YOU helped bring forth have set the stage to make our vision… our dream…. a reality. Firstly, we created an effective and integrated Academic Health Center—one of only 100 or so in the nation—aligning the interests and energies of our physicians and our medical center on behalf of the university. Secondly, we successfully consolidated two separate and distinct institutions into one—to create Georgia Regents University—a broad-based research university with strong and growing programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, business, education, and basic sciences, and with a recognized distinction in the biomedical sciences and the health professions. Thirdly, we implemented a shared administrative services system across our entire university and health system, enhancing the breadth the depth, and the quality of the services provided. And last, but not least, we not only survived, but we actually thrived, in the face of one of the most challenging economic environments that our nation has faced in modern times. …The Great Recession … Which resulted in more than a decade’s worth of stagnation and attrition, and with which we are still struggling. An environment that saw state budgets shrink and state appropriations for higher education decrease dramatically and that saw severe reductions in federal and NIH support as the Sequester took hold. An environment in which we, as did many others universities and health systems, also
Page 2 of 13
have to undertake a large number of costly but unfunded mandates. What I have called living in a “600 million dollar upside-down” world. EACH of these efforts was monumental, and to have achieved any one of them over such a short period of time would have been a great achievement. But you achieved all four—through tremendous, sustained, and extraordinary hard work. After so much hard work, each of you has the right to ask, “What’s in it for me?” So let me try and address that most important of questions for each of you who works or who learns here. For our undergraduate students—“What’s in it for you?” • You are now part of a research-level university, and that alone will significantly enhance the value of the degree you earn; •
You have more programs and majors to choose from,
•
You have access to many more research opportunities, supported in part by a Small Grants Program and through the Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, and
•
You have access to enhanced services designed to help you succeed. And it’s already beginning to work - In just one year the number of freshmen who successfully earned 15 or more credit hours in a semester, necessary to complete their degree in 4 years or less, rose from under 4% to 42%.
For our graduate students: • Your learning options have expanded dramatically. You can now seamlessly take courses across a broader spectrum of offerings, like business, arts, humanities and social sciences. •
You have greater opportunities for research collaborations and for the teaching of undergraduates.
•
And our increasing reach and profile means more resources and opportunities for scholarships and grants.
For our faculty: • You have more and better opportunities for research and scholarly collaborations, •
You have a greater opportunity to teach the best learners available as our reputation continues to grow and we attract students across a broader footprint.
•
Higher salary potential, particularly for our Summerville faculty, as we continue to increase our investment in faculty compensation,
•
And for our health sciences faculty, there are new opportunities for professional development in our business, education, arts and humanities programs. And you can now
Page 3 of 13
develop targeted programs with the undergraduate campus to ensure a healthy pipeline of the best and most diverse students into your programs, •
Finally, if you’re clinically active, you now work in an aligned integrated health system, where your influence is substantial, and where the hospital and the practice plan are not at odds with each other.
And for our staff members: • You have greater opportunities for professional advancement and employment across a much larger enterprise, •
And a portion of the savings obtained through our shared administrative services has allowed us to adjust salaries for many staff on the Summerville campus… to reflect the greater demands and broader reach of the work you do in the larger organization … and to provide merit increases to many of the remaining staff across our entire university.
And for all of us in the GRU and GRHealth families, whether we are a student, faculty or staff: •
Being part of a larger comprehensive research university, with growing state, national and global relevance and reach enhances our scholarly and professional opportunities and recognition;
•
And we all benefit from having as part of our family a dedicated and excellent healthcare system—A health system that I have seen close-up both as a practicing physician and as a patient. Nurses, doctors, and many other staff who provide extraordinary and passionate patient- and family-centered care. A health system that I am very proud of.
•
And we all are now part of the storied Jaguar Nation, giving us the opportunity to be both a participant and a fan through our intramural and intercollegiate sports teams.
•
We now benefit from having a much more diverse student body, and
•
We benefit from greater and better administrative services, including enhanced state and federal government advocacy, in-house legal counsel, fund-raising, and marketing and communications.
•
We now have far more opportunities to leverage philanthropic giving through our larger alumni base, and our growing recognition and relevance in the community, our state, and our nation—A recognition that has already resulted in many generous gifts.
•
And most importantly our larger, more broad-based university can generate more revenue from a greater variety of sources and can more effectively leverage its size to streamline expenses—So that we are now much less vulnerable to the disruptive swings of our unpredictable economy.
So the benefits of our efforts together these past four years are real, they are substantial, and they are growing for each and every individual on our campuses. But I want to turn the question around a little; I want to ask, “What’s in it for US?” Page 4 of 13
For, if you are part of the Georgia Regents family today, you are part of something bigger than any one individual. You are part of an ongoing story—a story of ambitious goals, of collaborative teamwork, of impressive accomplishments, of soaring vision. And you worked hard to set the stage for realizing our ambitious vision. A vision … •
Where we help create a new generation of world-class thinkers, discoverers, and healers whose innovations and contributions to our future cannot yet be imagined.
•
Where we improve the lives and health of thousands of people in our community, across our state, and throughout the world,
•
And where we galvanize our local community, and spur job growth and economic development in our home state of Georgia and beyond.
And we have succeeded well beyond everyone’s expectations. Of course, this rapid pace of change and transformation has meant that virtually everyone across all of our campuses has been operating on all cylinders for a significant period of time. From the months and years of preparation through the year since GRU’s creation, our pace— YOUR PACE—has been warp speed. Because TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE is never easy. The transformation that we have undertaken has required us to rapidly and without hesitation embrace those unique and very narrow windows of opportunity that open ever so rarely. A governor focused on improving the health of his citizens, a Board of Regents who decides to pursue a strategy of consolidation, local leadership that is ready to embrace big ideas, new university leadership that has responsibility and authority over the entire entity, and economic, regulatory, and healthcare challenges that created the urgency necessary for change. And without question, all of you have been asked to deliver extraordinary effort for extended periods of time. I recognize that many of you have been feeling significant pressure and strain—maybe even frustration.
Page 5 of 13
Because the relentless pace of the work and the sheer volume of changes we’ve had to absorb and implement have meant you’ve felt unable to always do your BEST, as I know you would like to. The pace of change was significant for the university, as we undertook a complex consolidation. And is magnified even more for those of you in the Health System as you work hard to ensure 24/7/365 coverage for our patients, through the best or worst of our times. As in the great teamwork and spirit of sacrifice you demonstrated during our recent ice storms. Let’s give a round of applause for the members of our health system, who are there for us … always. And this tough pace also means that we’ve made mistakes—I know I’VE made mistakes. Because achieving a transformation of our scope and size is never easy and not always smooth. Yet, despite these missteps and in spite of the extraordinarily high demands we have placed on YOU, what I find most inspiring is that I don’t hear complaints about working hard.
I will tell you, I have worked in many organizations over my career. And I can honestly say I have never worked with a more dedicated, willing, hard working, or talented group of people than all of you right here and all of you across all our campuses. Ralph Shrader, CEO of Booz Allen, once said, “Don’t tell me the future. I’ve learned, unquestionably, that resilience—not prophecy—is the greatest gift.” The resilience you have demonstrated in the face of our transformation is the best imaginable predictor of the future of this University, as we continue to Aspire To Greatness … together.
Let’s take a moment now and acknowledge how extraordinarily challenging your work has been and all that you have achieved. Go ahead and pat yourselves and each other on the back. What you have attained in less than four years is nothing short of extraordinary! You have my deepest personal appreciation and admiration for all that you have given. And please know that it is truly an honor and a privilege to work with each and every one of you. Thank you for what you do for all us. And so your hard work has transformed us … •
From a much-siloed enterprise to an aligned and integrated one, Page 6 of 13
•
From separate smaller schools into one larger broad-based research university with statewide relevance and regional and global reach.
And with this transformation you have created a strong platform from which we can now, as a university, as a health system, and as a community, undeniably Aspire To Greatness. But just as there are times when we must embrace transformative change, there comes a time to focus on the long journey ahead, solidifying our gains and leveraging who we now are. And that is where we are TODAY.
So what does it mean to focus on the long journey ahead? First and foremost, what we do— beginning right now— is to consciously and significantly shift gears … from managing rapid transformative change to generating long-term, sustainable growth. But I caution you, this shift won’t be easy. There is still much work to be done, and we will find ourselves feeling impatient, restless, anxious even. When great things are on the horizon, we want them to happen … and happen RIGHT NOW! What I have called the “Too fast, too slow” conundrum. But making the shift will be essential if we want to genuinely Aspire to Greatness. So the next question should be, how do we decide what to focus on now? And the answer may seem simple: We will make deliberate and strategic choices. We understand that we can’t be all things to all people. So we’ll be taking a hard look at available and new resources, and decide where they will go. In other words, we’ll engage in thoughtful, strategic, and transparent “resource prioritization.” We’ve already done much of the necessary legwork. When we created our new university, we developed a comprehensive strategic plan, called “Transition Forward,” where we outlined not only our mission, our vision, and our values, but also six overarching strategic priorities, each with a specific set of organizational goals. And now each College and administrative unit is building its own strategic plan around “Transition Forward.”
Page 7 of 13
Our challenge going forward will be to align finite resources with these strategic priorities—and in that way, ensure the effectiveness and continuity of our strategic plan. When we shift gears to focus on our long-term sustainable growth and align resources with strategic priorities—we will also create a structural foundation that will fortify us to weather the storms of the future—those we know are coming and those we have yet to imagine. And there are storms brewing on the horizon. The worlds in which we operate—higher education and health care—are themselves undergoing dramatic transformation... •
Budget pressures will continue—and will likely get worse—in both sectors;
•
Demographic shifts will give us a new pool of future students, and we’ll need to be ready to address their unique needs;
•
Technology will continue its rapid and relentless advance, and we must keep up—and figure out how to pay for it;
•
Our entire health care system is in a state of flux— and reforms have only just begun;
•
And we’ll need to figure out new educational and healthcare delivery models: How much learning will be bricks and mortar? How much will be distance or remote learning? How do we take care of patients across a very large footprint and in our most rural areas? How do we support medical tourism?
These are only a few of the many challenges we know we must face in the years to come. So, if we are to ensure our success, if we wish to realize our grand vision, if we want to ASPIRE TO GREATNESS, we must position ourselves around the future of higher education and health care—Not only as they are today, but more importantly, as they will be in the coming years and decades. To do that we will need to focus on strategic investments that will provide a rock solid foundation for realizing our long-term vision to be one of the top-tier universities in the nation. This is not a 5-year vision, or even a 10-year vision. This is a 20 and 30 year vision—with the ultimate goal of becoming a universally recognized Great American University. To achieve this long-term vision and our strategic plan I believe we must in the months ahead, focus on three key and immediate goals. • • •
Enhancing student recruitment, retention, progression, and graduation. Increasing faculty and staff satisfaction and retention, and Ensuring our long-term fiscal sustainability. Page 8 of 13
Why these three goals? Our first goal speaks to the fact that our students are at the heart of our university. And so we are implementing bold and innovative programs to attract students, to enroll them, to retain them, and to graduate them—Programs that address the full range of their engagement with us. For example, •
We are actively extending into K thru 12 schools so that students, teachers, principals, and counselors become fully aware of all we have to offer.
•
We’re implementing or enhancing student-centric experiences that showcase our unique and innovative educational offerings—Programs like Near Peer, Summer Academy, College Coaching, and our Mini Medical School—and we have many more in the works.
•
We’re leveraging technology to both enhance our success and track progress in achieving our goals … for recruiting, retaining and progressing our undergraduate students to degree completion on time, in 4 years or less.
•
And we continue to focus on student success in our graduate and professional programs—never forgetting that our health sciences programs are at the core of what distinguishes us from our peer institutions.
Our next goal focuses on our faculty and staff, the critical element that will ensure our greatness. We want the best, and we want to guarantee their satisfaction and retention, so they can continue to contribute their hard work, creativity, teaching, and discovering right here on our campuses. And so we are taking concrete steps to ensure that our employees—faculty and staff in all parts of our organization, University and Health System—are heard, are valued, and are respected. And most importantly, have the resources, the time, and the support to do their jobs well. We’ve already started to gather your thoughts. We’ve surveyed our health system employees— and received almost 5000 responses, an amazing 92% response rate! Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill the survey out, and I look forward to studying the results carefully and working with our teams to develop any improvement strategy necessary. And we’ll be surveying our university employees shortly—and I encourage all of you who are surveyed… to take the opportunity to tell us what you think. I’ve also asked my executive team to identify ways to decrease bureaucratic burden; things like fewer meetings, less paperwork, simpler processes to help address many of the concerns we’ve heard.
Page 9 of 13
In addition, for our faculty, our new Office of Faculty Development has been busy—their website is a one-stop-shop for faculty seeking professional development opportunities across our campuses. Opportunities that include more than 40 workshops and activities scheduled for this semester alone! And through the Center for Teaching and Learning, faculty are working together to improve their teaching effectiveness and our students’ success—while at the same time, enhancing their own professional expertise. We’re also committed to providing our research faculty with the infrastructure and tools that they need, so they can focus their attention on the ground-breaking science and discoveries they provide us. For example, •
We’re providing enhanced bridge funding, and continued support for research incentive programs through the GR Research Institute, and
•
We’re working hard to ease bureaucratic burden with a dedicated IT team, SMART compliance initiatives, and a new electronic platform for processing FDA-required reviews.
Fully implementing the necessary changes will take some time, and so I ask you for your patience. But I can assure you—on behalf of myself and my entire leadership team—that we take very seriously the professional and personal satisfaction of our faculty and staff … and we will be making many needed changes in the months and years to come. Our third goal is to ensure our long-term fiscal health. Obviously the goals I’ve already mentioned will bolster our financial health, because in order to be fiscally sound, we must optimize student, faculty, and staff recruitment, retention, and success. But we must also create the physical environment and the fiscal capacity to serve our future needs. So we have initiated multiple enhancements to begin to improve our health sciences campus— Installing permanent way-finding and signage, adding landscaping and other aesthetic elements, beginning enhancements to Laney Walker Boulevard, and renovating the old dental school building, to be called the Professional Building. But we also need to take the long view around facilities. So last month we launched our Campus Master Planning Process.
Page 10 of 13
Over the coming year, we’ll work in close collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders—including among others city officials, Mayor Deke Copenhaver, the Augusta Regional Collaboration Project, USG, and our entire university and health system communities—to match our needs against all local potential site opportunities. The analysis will be exhaustive, inclusive, and visionary. The result will be a comprehensive Campus Master Plan that will serve as a blueprint for the physical manifestation of the GRU vision for years to come. This is an exciting project, which promises to be rejuvenating for our university and for our community. Our university’s fiscal health also requires that we deliberately and carefully grow our clinical platform. Currently, more than 30% of our university’s budget comes from our health system, so this priority is particularly critical to establishing our firm financial footing. And so we must significantly grow our clinical enterprise if we are to support our academic and research aspirations, if we are going to be able to Aspire to Greatness. And so to further improve our health system revenues, we’ll continue our relentless focus on increasing the quality of our care while decreasing costs. Because in healthcare higher costs do not generally equal higher quality; in fact it’s more often the opposite. Today we’re ranked 7th lowest in case mix-adjusted cost among all academic teaching hospitals—tomorrow we’ll be even better; We’re targeting investments to grow our advanced and complex referrals, so that we can cement and expand our role as our region’s preferred provider for specialized care in cardiovascular disease, neurosciences, digestive health, cancer, and much much more. At the same time, we’re expanding the advanced ambulatory services we offer—like our integrated outpatient spine center right here in our community. We’ll continue to create and strengthen strategic affiliations, including our alliances and agreements with many hospitals throughout the region and the state, and with global leaders such as Royal Philips. …And we’re investing in marketing campaigns to make sure the world knows why people should trust their health to the doctors and care teams of Georgia Regents Health System. Finally, you’ve heard in recent weeks about our bid to build a hospital in Columbia County. And while no decision has yet been made,
Page 11 of 13
•
Our vision is to create a Columbia County Health Campus that will deliver world-class compassionate healthcare, drive economic growth, and amplify the reputation of Columbia County as a leader for innovation, business development, and technology.
•
If we are selected, we will build a 21st-century community teaching hospital practicing 21st-century medicine and dramatically expand our clinical, educational, training and research platform in service to our community, to our patients, and to our students.
One question you might be asking is, “Where will the necessary resources come from to achieve our goals?” First, we need to understand that not all support will be new. Funding will come in part from a process of “resource reallocation,” where we will take a close look at existing resources and reallocate them as needed to support our strategic objectives. But importantly, we also are working hard to generate NEW resources. Firstly and as I already mentioned, increased revenues from our clinical operations will be key to supporting many of our strategic priorities. Secondly, additional support will come from increased philanthropic giving. Our alumni have always been enthusiastically engaged and generous, partnering with us to serve our students, our patients, our community, and our state to the very best of their ability. And in the past year, it’s been exciting to see our foundations and alumni groups exploring opportunities for working collaboratively together, on our behalf. We’ve made great progress already in our long-term plan to bolster philanthropic giving, and we will continue to enhance these efforts. And while we should all recognize that developing a strong philanthropic base takes years, we also should be very pleased with the degree of support and interest already shown by our donor community in our university and in our vision. A few of the gifts we have been fortunate to obtain so far include: • • • • •
A $66 million bequest from Dr. J. Harold Harrison, the largest gift ever to a public institution in Georgia; A $10 million gift for our Education Commons Building, also from Dr. Harrison, the largest single gift for a capital project at our university; An $8 million gift from the Woodruff Foundation for our cutting-edge interprofessional simulation center, the foundation’s largest gift to an educational facility outside of Atlanta, A $6 million gift from the Masters Tournament Foundation and the Community Foundation for the CSRA for our Cancer Center, And over $5 million in support from local area philanthropists.
Page 12 of 13
A third source of revenue will come as we increasingly leverage our industry partnerships—like our history-making collaboration with Royal Philips—and the many strategies we have put in place to increase our Intellectual Property revenues and royalties. Fourthly, as we increase the number of students, both on our campuses and online, and as our tuition rates gradually rise over time to match those of our peer research universities, tuition revenues will increase to support further development of our academic programs. And lastly, new resources will arise as we aim to increase the number and amount of targeted investments by agencies of our local, state and federal governments. So by now you see that “shifting gears” does not mean stopping—not by a long shot. It simply means solidifying, strategizing, prioritizing, and executing, on the stronger and healthier platform that we have now constructed. It means recognizing that we are in the first leg of a long-distance relay, but a critical one nonetheless, for it’s the stage in which we lay the foundation for our future. And it also means keeping our eye on the horizon for gathering storms, while maintaining a laser-like focus on our ultimate goal, to be the Next Great American University. A future where we, Georgia Regents will provide forward-thinking educational programs, highimpact research, cutting-edge and patient-focused clinical care, and nationally recognized athletics, Where we will deliver discovery, innovation, creativity, and excellence … Where we will be a catalyst to a revitalized future, a future of great possibilities, for our students, our patients, our community, our state, our nation, and our world. For at Georgia Regents, we aspire not only to be excellent educators not only to be world-class healers, not only to be groundbreaking discoverers, At Georgia Regents, we Aspire to Greatness. Thank you. ###
Page 13 of 13