2013-2018 Strategic Plan
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BUILDING ON STRENGTHS
SHP BUILDING ON STRENGTHS VISION
To be recognized as the leading school of health professions—shaping the future of healthcare
MISSION
To improve the quality of health through teaching, research and translation of discoveries into practice.
STRATEGY The School of Health Professions believes that knowledge can positively change the world. However, to shape the future of healthcare and be the 21st century leader in health professions’ education and research, we believe that we must fundamentally challenge the traditional way that educational institutions have functioned. While, like other institutions, we address important societal problems through the discovery of new knowledge, empower others by sharing that knowledge and impact the lives of individuals, communities and the world by translating that knowledge into practice, we also believe that we must pursue a unique strategy--a strategy that will transform our school so that it can uniquely lead efforts to shape healthcare in a way that dramatically impact the quality of lives of individuals, communities and the world. Based on these beliefs, our strategy is as follows. To expand the visibility and impact of the School, we: • Listen to the needs of external constituencies to identify real world problems • Focus our resources on those problems that the School’s expertise is uniquely suited to address • Tailor innovative teaching and research solutions to address those real world problems • Partner with strategic community, business and global leaders to expand the impact of our efforts
OVERARCHING OBJECTIVES
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DISCOVER
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PARTNERSHIPS
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FOCUS AREAS Obesity & Obesity Related Diseases
Healthcare Management & Leadership +
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Rehabilitation & Signature Programs Undergraduate Disability Education for Workforce Needs
SHP STRATEGY STATEMENT To expand the impact and visibility of the School by tailoring innovative teaching and research solutions to address real world problems, by building strategic community, business and global partnerships that inform and expand our impact, and by focusing our resources on pressing societal needs that the School’s expertise is best suited to meaningfully address.
Obesity & Obesity Related Diseases
Healthcare Management & Leadership +
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Teach
Discover
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• Enhance the multidisciplinary program in lifestyle intervention science, application and community outreach to a position of national leadership. • Reduce the burden of suffering from obesity related cancers, diabetes, and heart disease through expanded scientific discovery. • Expand and develop innovative patient care programs in obesity medicine. • Leverage our world-class education program in nutrition and obesity to enhance its sustainability, quality and inclusiveness.
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• Be recognized globally as a leader in healthcare management education, research and service. • Expand the reach and impact of the Center for Healthcare Management & Leadership and the Center for Health Informatics for Patient Safety and Quality. • Deliver innovative healthcare management education that enhances the value of degree programs and anticipates market demand. • Improve the effectiveness of the health care delivery system through expanded research activity.
Goals Rehabilitation & Disability
Signature Programs for Workforce Needs
Undergraduate Education
• Establish a new Center on Disability and Rehabilitation. • Expand and diversify the UAB / Lakeshore Research Collaborative. • Recruit additional funded researchers. • Increase extramural funding for disability and rehabilitation research that includes both children and adults with disabilities. • Increase financial support for Rehabilitation Science PhD students. • Develop a tele-health infrastructure for health promotion with children and adults who have disabilities. • Respond to demand and diversity needs for OT, PT, and Rehabilitation Science professionals.
• Grow enrollment in the physician assistant program by developing a primary care option. • Develop an online regulatory affairs track for biotechnology industry professionals. • Develop graduate level programming in Health Physics and Medical Physics. • Develop a graduate level professional school preparatory program to strengthen the competitiveness of disadvantaged and rural students seeking entry into professional healthcare programs. • Develop an innovative Clinical Laboratory Sciences curriculum to address severe workforce shortages.
• Build strong enrollment in Biomedical Sciences. • Expand Health Care Management undergraduate program. • Expand school-based honors and undergraduate research programs. • Create additional 3+2 programs. • Create attractive minors in Health Care Management, Nutrition and other disciplines.
Obesity & Obesity-Related Diseases
STATEMENT OF NEED The emphasis on obesity and obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and cancer is critical to our city, state, and nation based on (i) the burden of patient suffering attributable to these diseases, (ii) the high social costs that these diseases exact, and (iii) the fact that prevalence rates are rapidly rising. By way of illustration: • Within the United States, more than two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese (with 1 in 3 obese); and one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese (with 1 in 6 obese). • Overweight and obesity rates are higher among minorities (78.8% of Hispanics and 76.7% of African Americans) and those living in southern states (including Alabama which ranks Number 1 in self-reported obesity prevalence). • Overweight and obesity are risk factors for: 1) type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers; 2) functional impairment and disability; 3) poor quality of life and social stigma; and 4) mortality. • The direct and indirect costs of obesity are high for individuals, industry, and health care. It is estimated that the medical care costs of obesity in the U.S. exceed $147 billion. • Over 10% of US adults have diabetes, which is the leading cause of adult blindness, renal failure resulting in hemodialysis, and non-traumatic amputations, as well as a major contributor to stroke and coronary artery disease. • Alabama consistently ranks in the top five of states for prevalence rates of both obesity and diabetes. • Obesity and diabetes are both independent risk factors for certain cancers, and are highly prevalent among disabled individuals where they exert a heavy toll to exacerbate functional impairment and poor quality of life. • The pathophysiology of obesity and diabetes, and their relationship to cancer, is incompletely understood, and improved medications and other interventions are needed for treatment and prevention.
STRENGTHS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS The Department of Nutrition Sciences is recognized nationally and internationally for research excellence in obesity, diabetes, and cancer nutrition and prevention, and is the home for several university-wide entities that promote activity in these areas of excellence. The pillars that initiate, support, and coordinate research and education across campus in nutrition, obesity, diabetes, exercise physiology, and cancer prevention include two major NIH funded research centers (both recently renewed), multiple training grants, and programs for patient care: • The UAB Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (NORC) is an NIH-funded (one of 12 centers in the U.S.) UWIRC that promotes basic, clinical, and translational research with an emphasis on understanding nutrition. The NORC is comprised of over 100 investigators from across campus and operates four research core facilities (Animal Models, Biostatistics,
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Metabolism and Body Composition, and Genetics), a pilot/feasibility program, and an enrichment program featuring weekly lectures by national experts. The UAB Diabetes Research Center (DRC) is a NIH-funded center that promotes basic, clinical, and translational research related to diabetes and cardiometabolic disease. The DRC is comprised of over 180 investigators from across campus and operates four research core facilities (REDOX Biology, Animal Physiology, Human Physiology, and Translation & Interventions Cores), a robust pilot & feasibility program that has provided $1.8 million to UAB investigators since 2008, and an enrichment program featuring monthly lectures by internationally-recognized experts. The EatRight Weight Management Program has operated within the UAB Health System for two decades in delivering expert care to patients with obesity and associated diseases. The department conducts a training program for MDs leading to certification as Physician Nutrition Specialists with credentialing by the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists. The Cancer Prevention & Control Training Grant (T35) has for nearly two decades been the major vehicle for the UAB Cancer Center in the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in cancer nutrition and prevention. The department conducts a highly-rated graduate program leading to a PhD degree in Nutrition Sciences (ranked 10th best in the U.S. by the National Research Council), and a Dietetic Internship that produces highly qualified clinical dietitians. The department’s two T32 institutional training grants (one pre-doctoral and one postdoctoral program) provide training opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the area of obesity. The UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative in physical activity, rehabilitation science and engineering and disability is the largest federally funded research center targeting reduction of health disparities (e.g., obesity and other secondary conditions) in children and adults with disabilities.
3-5 YEAR GOALS • Enhance the multidisciplinary program in lifestyle intervention science, application and community outreach to a position of national leadership. • Reduce the burden of suffering from obesity related cancers, diabetes, and heart disease through expanded scientific discovery. • Expand and develop innovative patient care programs in obesity medicine. • Leverage our world-class education program in nutrition and obesity to enhance its sustainability, quality and inclusiveness.
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Healthcare Management & Leadership
STATEMENT OF NEED The national need for trained healthcare management has seen three major crests during the last 60 years: Hill-Burton Act (The Hospital Survey and Construction Act of 1946) funded construction of healthcare facilities and increased the need for healthcare managers/directors; Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-1960s caused a greater need for healthcare services and better training for healthcare providers as the complexity and funding of organizations changed; and Healthcare Reform legislation in 2010 which created an even greater need for leadership, strategic thinking, financial assessments and team-based solutions. More than any other time, the U.S. healthcare system has an urgent need for competent, committed and morally strong leaders. UAB’s Department of Health Services Administration (HSA) has witnessed increases in applications across its seven programs. • Management skills and leadership potential are increasingly vital for physicians, nurses, and other allied health professionals within the “reformed” healthcare system to handle the complex and changing delivery system. • The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the need for healthcare managers will increase by 22% between 2010 and 2020 versus 14% for the U.S. workforce as a whole. Yahoo recently cited Health Care Management as the #1 degree employers are seeking. • Healthcare reform is driving clinicians and managers to seek continuing and executive education opportunities. Healthcare organizations demand leadership at all levels with new sets of skills such as managing for population health, evidence-based management, delivery across the continuum of care, and team-based care. • Conversion to the Electronic Health Record (EHR) creates the need for upwards of 50,000 individuals able to assist in the selection and implementation of EHRs in hospitals and physician offices nationally. • Adoption of the ICD-10 coding scheme, scheduled for the next few years in the U.S., will require substantial added training for existing coders and others on the appropriate use of this more comprehensive coding system. • International demand for competent leadership is also exploding as developed and underdeveloped countries strive to professionalize the leadership of their healthcare delivery system. • Critical research will be needed to assess the quality, effectiveness, efficiency and cost elements associated with new healthcare delivery models that arise in response to healthcare reform and EHR requirements.
STRENGTHS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS The history of SHP’s Department of Health Services Administration places it in a unique position to address the needs mentioned above. The international HSA brand has emerged from almost 50 years of training healthcare leadership for Alabama, the Southeast, the nation and the world. Few other educational organizations in the world have the scale of our department or deliver the scope of services. With more than 30 core faculty, seven academic programs, two
Centers devoted to education and service, and approximately 2,000 alumni active in healthcare management around the world, few can do as much as our existing department. For nearly 50 years, departmental leadership has anticipated market needs and created educational offerings to meet those needs including with a healthcare management program that predates UAB, early continuing education, executive education at master’s and doctoral levels, health informatics that includes data analytics and user experience, and international capabilities. The department: • Offers BS, MSHA, PhD., Executive MSHA, Executive D.Sc. degrees in health management/ administration, the MSHI in Health Informatics (with HIM certification), numerous graduate and undergraduate certificates and options and extensive continuing education offerings. • Is ranked #5 among all healthcare management programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, is ranked among the nation’s largest and most prestigious executive education programs and has one of only 48 undergraduate healthcare management programs that are fully certified by AUPHA. • Offers an Executive Doctoral program, which attracts senior executives from around the world to attain extensive strategic and analytical skill necessary for healthcare leadership in the years ahead. • Is a global leader in healthcare management education, most recently developing and implementing a master’s degree in Health Services Administration to senior clinical and administrative leaders of King Fahad Specialist Hospital in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. • Produces the annual National Symposium for Healthcare Executives (for the last 33 years), which brings together national experts and speakers from the healthcare industry. • Delivers leadership development certificate programs to UAB Health Services Foundation leadership and to other health systems. • Home to the Center for Health Informatics for Patient Safety and Quality (CHIPS/Q). This education and service center is positioned to channel information technology to meet growing healthcare quality and patient safety concerns in the U.S. health delivery system. • Selected by the Office of the National Coordinator to develop the Health Information Technology Curriculum that is now used by over 10,000 instructors throughout the world. • Participated for the last 5 years with the American Medical Informatics Association’s 10x10 program to train Health Information Technology professionals for EHR implementation initiatives. • Faculty serve as editors for some of the nation’s premiere journals related to healthcare management including the Journal of Healthcare Management and Journal of Health Administration Education. • First program 14 years ago to offer extensive distant learning capacity and deliver healthcare content using this technology. For more than a decade the department has also offered innovative blended learning applications for executive education. • Produce and sponsor the National Health Administration Case Competition that brings over 30 of the top accredited Health Administration Programs in the country to Birmingham each year.
3-5 YEAR GOALS • Be recognized globally as a leader in healthcare management education, research and service. • Expand the reach and impact of the Center for Healthcare Management & Leadership and the Center for Health Informatics for Patient Safety and Quality. • Deliver innovative healthcare management education that enhances the value of degree programs and anticipates market demand. • Improve the effectiveness of the health care delivery system through expanded research activity.
Rehabilitation & Disability
STATEMENT OF NEED Current projections suggest that the need for rehabilitation services will continue to grow as the population ages and conditions associated with obesity continue to escalate. While there is an obvious need for millions of our citizens, due in part to increased life expectancy, there is a particularly acute and growing disparity in health and access to both rehabilitation and health promotion services for persons with disabilities. Left unaddressed, we are at risk of leaving this large and growing segment of our population with inadequate services; resulting in lower life quality, poorer health and increased long-term health related cost. The Affordable Care Act’s emphasis on objective data supporting best practices will exacerbate the future need for addressing the disparity. While the need is national and international, Alabamians are at particular risk. No entity is better positioned to address this risk than UAB and the School of Health Professions (SHP). • Over 56 million Americans have a disability. • Alabama has a significantly greater proportion of residents with disabilities than the national average (16.2% vs. 12.1%) and is the highest among states in the Southeast region. • Persons with disabilities use more health care services (e.g., higher emergency room use and hospitalization rates), have more health care access problems (e.g., up to 80% are uninsured for health care at least a portion of each year), and account for higher health care expenditures. • A 2008 report indicated that over $550 billion were spent on health care for persons with chronic health conditions and disability. • There is a predicted shortage of therapists to provide rehabilitation services to meet the needs of these individuals.
• Both Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy rank in the top ten for greatest health care job growth for the next ten years. • Research will be needed to assess the quality, effectiveness, efficiency and cost of new interventions, services and service delivery systems.
STRENGTHS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS The confluence of several factors places SHP in a unique and unusually strong position to emerge as not only a prominent leader in rehabilitation but also the world leader in rehabilitation, physical activity and persons with disability. These factors include long-standing robust departments of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, a new PhD program in Rehabilitation Science, faculty recognized as international leaders in their fields, well-established and recognized centers and labs and the extraordinary nature of the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative. Illustrations of these unique strengths and accomplishments include: • UAB ranked #1 in rehabilitation science publications. • UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative provides unprecedented opportunity addressing rehabilitation for persons with disabilities. • SHP’s National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability, delivered through the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative, is the only federally-funded center of its kind in the nation. • SHP houses the only federally-funded Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Interactive Exercise Technologies and Exercise Physiology for People with Disabilities in the nation. • Department of Occupational Therapy has the nation’s only low vision certificate program for occupational therapists. • Physical Therapy program is ranked #19 by U.S. News & World Report. Occupational Therapy is ranked #28. • SHP’s Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science is one of the few interdisciplinary programs in the nation. • SHP’s is the only program in physical and occupational therapy to develop practitioner competency in health promotion, wellness and prevention in high-risk populations (HealthFocused Care Certificate). • Faculty are internationally recognized experts in rehabilitation, physical activity and persons with disability.
3-5 YEAR GOALS • • • •
Establish a new Center on Disability and Rehabilitation. Expand and diversify the UAB / Lakeshore Research Collaborative. Recruit additional funded researchers. Increase extramural funding for disability and rehabilitation research that includes both children and adults with disabilities. • Increase financial support for Rehabilitation Science PhD students. • Develop a tele-health infrastructure for health promotion with children and adults who have disabilities. • Respond to demand and diversity needs for OT, PT, and Rehabilitation Science professionals.
Signature Programs for Workforce Needs
STATEMENT OF NEED The number of jobs in health care is projected to grow exponentially over the next decade surpassing all other industries. The overall aging population, the growing physician shortage, new governmental regulations, and expansion into molecular and genetic testing have all contributed to this increased need. • The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the healthcare sector is the fastest growing occupational group from 2010 – 2020, growing by 30% and creating 3.4 million more new jobs during that ten year time span. • Over the last five years, health care job growth has outpaced employment trends overall with current and emerging growth in Physician Assistant Studies (30% growth), Clinical Laboratory Science (15% growth), Nuclear Medicine Technology (19% growth). • The state of Alabama is in desperate need for health professionals as the state is currently categorized as a health professions shortage area with 61 out of 67 counties short in primary care physicians. • Blueprint Birmingham’s 5th objective is to optimize the potential of Birmingham’s 2- and 4-year colleges and universities to meet emerging workforce needs. Accelerate Alabama and BioAlabama’s strategic initiatives include a major focus on growing a thriving bioscience community within the state. • Genetic testing represents the most rapidly expanding segment of the molecular diagnostics market worldwide and expansion of genetic counselors into non-hospital sectors is expanding.
STRENGTHS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS The School of Health Professions has developed key, high quality entry-level professional program offerings at the graduate level to meet current and emerging workforce needs. Several programs are nationally ranked. • Nationally ranked programs include Physical Therapy, Health Administration, Occupational Therapy, and Physician Assistant Studies. • Several programs are ranked by the U.S. News & World Report as programs in the top 20 Healthcare jobs including Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Nuclear Medicine Technology, and Clinical Laboratory Science. • Four SHP programs (Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, Nuclear Medicine Technology, and Clinical Laboratory Science) received grants totaling $2.4 million from the U.S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to fund the attraction and retention of a diverse student body. • Educational programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology (BS), Genetic Counseling (MS), and Biotechnology (MS) are one-of-a-kind in the state of Alabama. These programs serve as a pipeline of well-qualified professionals in emerging workforces within and beyond the state. • SHP’s nationally ranked Physician Assistant Studies program, is one of only two programs in the state and graduates 60 students a year providing a pipeline of well-qualified professionals to fill the emerging need for mid-level providers within and beyond the state of Alabama.
• The Physician Assistant Studies program is the recipient of CDC funding for Alabama/ North Carolina STD prevention and training center and has developed a national teaching curriculum that serves as a model national curriculum for PA training in AIDS prevention and treatment. • The MS in Biotechnology Program offers a unique curriculum that serves an unmet emerging workforce need. This program has its goals linked to Blueprint Birmingham, Accelerate Alabama, and BioAlabama, all of which include a major focus on growing a thriving bioscience community within the state.
3-5 YEAR GOALS • • • •
Grow enrollment in the physician assistant program by developing a primary care option. Develop an online regulatory affairs track for biotechnology industry professionals. Develop graduate level programming in Health Physics and Medical Physics. Develop a graduate level professional school preparatory program to strengthen the competitiveness of disadvantaged and rural students seeking entry into professional healthcare programs. • Develop an innovative Clinical Laboratory Sciences curriculum to address severe workforce shortages.
Undergraduate Education
STATEMENT OF NEED Undergraduate offerings in the School of Health Professions are in response to: • High student demand for healthcare professional programs requiring expanding preprofessional educational offerings. • Aggressive university growth targets for undergraduate enrollment over the next five years. • Demand for programs that easily articulate into graduate, entry-level health professions’ careers. • Demand for undergraduate honors and research experiences.
STRENGTHS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS • Strong expertise in Health Care Management and biomedical sciences disciplines currently exist within the school’s graduate program. • Strong healthcare management program – one of only 48 AUPHA certified programs in country. • Development of and the expertise to provide a BS in Biomedical Sciences programs which creates a signature, integrated and focused curriculum surrounding human biology, chemistry and disease. • History of quality school-based honors programs and undergraduate research. • Strong history of excellence in online educational programming.
3-5 YEAR GOALS • Build a strong enrollment in Biomedical Sciences. • Expand the Health Care Management undergraduate program. • Expand school-based honors and undergraduate research opportunities that will attract highability students and position them to be leaders in their field. • Create accelerated degree offerings that allow students to complete their undergraduate and graduate degrees more efficiently. • Create minors that enhance and expand knowledge and skills in the health professions.
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Photography Credit: Steve Wood Design Credit: Clarus Consulting Group Third Printing February 2014