Medical Center growth leads to Health System turnaround

By Emily Caldwell, Medical Center Communications

Two years of growth at Ohio State's Medical Center have led to a $45 million improvement in the OSU Health System finances and an increase of almost $40 million in external research funding.

Preliminary financials show that the Health System has erased the $42.6 million deficit of two years ago and surpassed the break-even point by $2.8 million on net revenues of $710 million during the fiscal year ending June 30, recording a 27 percent increase in revenues in the process. Likewise, research grant awards at the Medical Center increased by 58 percent in the past 24 months, with grants exceeding $100 million for the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

"Our success can be attributed to a strategy of combining the strengths in our academic and patient care missions to create growth opportunities," said Fred Sanfilippo, senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health, who joined Ohio State in September 2000 to lead the Medical Center.

"Our 'leverage-and-growth' strategy has worked by changing expectations on how things are done. A good example has been providing resources based on achievements rather than historic funding formulas. A common thread is promoting excellence and innovation on the part of all of the people who work here," Sanfilippo said. "This culture change has brought out the best in the Medical Center, and we're seeing the fruits of these efforts in numerous areas."

Health System turnaround

"The turnaround for the Health System is significant," said R. Reed Fraley, vice president for health services and chief executive officer of the OSU Health System. "It is unusual in the health care industry -- or just about any industry -- to recover from that kind of deficit in just 24 months without drastically cutting services. Instead, the new direction of the medical center has revitalized the Health System's financial status and been accompanied by consistent growth, including a 10 percent increase in hospital admissions. While revenues have increased 27 percent over the past two years, expenses grew by just 17 percent."

And patient satisfaction with care in clinical settings has hit an all-time high. "Patient care is a top consideration, and patient satisfaction continues to improve. At the end of the year, it was at the highest levels ever measured," Fraley said.

Ongoing and planned enhancements to the Medical Center infrastructure will help improve patient care even more, and are made possible by revenues that exceed expenses and a reserve fund that provides the basis for investments in building and renovations, Fraley said.

"To reach our goals, we can't hold steady and avoid growth," he said. "Additional staff, new buildings and renovations are needed to fulfill the teaching, research and patient care mission of the academic medical center. We're seeing areas in which the current facilities are not sufficient to meet community, academic and patient care needs. While we must be vigilant in protecting our financial resources, there are more risks associated with not looking at future needs and using some of those financial resources to prepare for the future."

Construction has begun on the $82.8 million Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital, due for completion in 2004, as one of the nation's few freestanding heart hospitals and a significant demonstration of Ohio State's eye toward future research and health care needs.

The Health System has selectively scaled back in some areas over the past two years, as well, managing inventory and monitoring supply and medication purchases more closely and instituting checks and balances to ensure efficient procedures. The Health System also closed some programs that resulted in eliminating employment positions. Fraley said most employees whose jobs were eliminated were offered alternative positions in areas showing growth.

"We made some difficult decisions, but the results are that we have sharpened our focus on the strongest programs and services. And growth has resulted: There are actually 150 more employees than we had a year ago," he said. "And among the strategic investments has been an emphasis on providing competitive salaries to our employees. Even when we were reporting a significant operating deficit, we met every commitment we had to the University, to vendors and, most importantly, to the staff in the form of raises."

One investment dating to the 1990s, to make dramatic expansions in computer systems for tasks ranging from paperless record keeping to filmless radiology, has reaped countless rewards. The streamlined information processing has resulted in improved productivity in all sectors of the patient-care environment and earned the Health System national recognition.

Christopher Ellison, vice dean for clinical affairs and chief of surgery, noted that the advent of OSU Physicians, the unified faculty practice plan consolidating 15 plans into one practice, will further boost the success of the Medical Center.

"OSUP will not only improve the quality of our academic and patient care missions, but will also give the Medical Center even more growth opportunities and better alignment with the OSU Health System and College of Medicine," Ellison said. The unification of the practices is expected to be complete by July 2003.

$1.25 billion and growing

"With annual revenues of $1.25 billion, the OSU Medical Center represents a key engine for economic growth in central Ohio," Sanfilippo said, "especially considering opportunities in the knowledge economy.

"Progress in the past two years was made under difficult financial circumstances and is attributable to hard work and collaboration on the part of faculty, staff, clinicians and administrators," he said. "And, frankly, Ohio State's Medical Center would not be the success it is without the support of the community, including patients, volunteers, our many corporate partners and donors who help support our programs. We'll continue to use these strengths to provide the best possible biomedical research, teaching and patient care to the region."

American choreographer William Forsythe receives Wexner Prize

American-born choreographer William Forsythe, director of the highly regarded Frankfurt Ballet, will receive the 10th Wexner Prize Nov. 26 at the Wexner Center. The $50,000 prize is awarded annually to a contemporary artist who has been consistently original, influential and challenging to convention. This year's prize events include discussions led by Forsythe, a film screening and a symposium featuring leading artists and critics.

Forsythe is widely considered one of the most important dance artists of our time. A revolutionary thinker and artistic provocateur, Forsythe has set new standards internationally for ballet and modern dance companies alike. His Frankfurt Ballet (known as Ballett Frankfurt abroad) has attracted the top dancers in the world, and the company's rare performances in the U.S. have been occasions for pilgrimages by a faithful following.

William Forsythe is the recipient of the $50,000 Wexner Prize.   By Robin Lea

In addition to his work in Frankfurt, Forsythe has created new work for the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Royal Ballet Covent Garden, and the Paris Opera Ballet, among many others. Among his awards and honors are a Bessie Award for choreography in 1988, several Laurence Olivier Awards, the Commandeur des Arts and Lettres in France, and many other international prizes.

"Forsythe is a towering figure in his field, equally acclaimed for his daring and his virtuosity," said Sherri Geldin, director of the Wexner Center. "He is an undisputed revolutionary who has altered the formal and conceptual terrain of dance, yet he has never lost touch with the pure physical joy of dancing."

The Wexner Prize presentation takes place Nov. 26 in private award ceremonies at the Wexner Center.

Public programs

• Wexner Prize Symposium: 2 p.m. Nov. 24, Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, free.

This symposium on Forsythe's work begins with a screening of the film Just Dancing Around, an intimate film portrait of Forsythe by Oscar-nominated director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas), followed by a discussion featuring a panel of well-known authorities about Forsythe and the global influence of his work across a variety of disciplines. The moderator of the panel discussion is Senta Driver, pioneering vanguard choreographer and Ohio State alumna. Panel members are Figgis; leading avant-garde choreographer John Jasperse; critic and curator Louise Neri; and dance critic Roslyn Sulcas. Neri and Sulcas are both writing books about Forsythe.

• Presentation by William Forsythe -- Dance and Digital Media: 1:30 p.m. Nov. 25, Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, free.

Forsythe will discuss the application of digital media in the arts, and the development of his CD-ROM Improvisation Techniques: A Tool for the Analytical Dance Eye, a pioneering tool originally created for teaching his unique dance vocabulary to the dancers of the Frankfurt Ballet.

• Discussion with Forsythe —Collaboration across the Disciplines: 2:30 p.m. Nov. 25, Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, free.

Forsythe will talk about artistic collaboration and how he combines philosophy and art, movement and language, dance and technology. A public reception with Forsythe in the Wexner Cafe will follow.

• A multimedia display featuring Forsythe's work will be on view during building hours, mid-November through mid-December, in the lower lobby of the Wexner Center.

• While in town, Forsythe will also conduct a private master class for students in Ohio State's Department of Dance.

William Forsythe

Born in New York City in 1949, Forsythe captured the attention of the dance world as a company member with the Joffrey Ballet. In 1973, he relocated to Germany to dance with the Stuttgart Ballet. He became resident choreographer, and commissions quickly followed from many noted European companies, including Paris Opera Ballet, the Basel Ballett, Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin, and Nederlands Dans Theater.

Upon taking the helm of the Frankfurt Ballet in 1984, Forsythe guided the company in a new direction, phasing out works from the classical repertoire and creating large scale theatrical dance works. He more fully developed his radical signature style -- one that expands upon traditional ballet vocabulary to explore the limits of the body.

Brashly stylish and physically demanding, Forsythe's work features urgent, hyperextended dance phrasing. His productions often convey images of conflict, violent beauty, and stark contrast, but he is also noted for poetic insight into human relations, with sweeping passages of tenderness to balance the hard edges.

In December 2001, the New York Times called his choreography "tough, elegant, incisive, and usually rooted in ballet virtuosity, demanding highly trained classical dancers …. There is no mistaking the contemporary energy that anyone from Mick Jagger to current rappers would recognize. At his best Mr. Forsythe fuses this energy and the dancers' physical attack with a strong structural concept."

Prize details

The Wexner Prize is awarded annually to a major contemporary artist who has been consistently original, influential and challenging to convention. The $50,000 prize is funded by the Wexner Center Foundation through a gift from Abigail and Leslie H. Wexner, chairman of the Wexner Center Foundation and chairman and founder of Limited Brands.

A commemorative sculpture designed by artist Jim Dine accompanies the award.

Past recipients are: Peter Brook, theater director, 1992; John Cage, composer/musician, with Merce Cunningham, choreographer, 1993; Bruce Nauman, visual artist, 1994; Yvonne Rainer, choreographer and filmmaker, 1995; Martin Scorsese, filmmaker, 1996­1997; Gerhard Richter, painter, 1998; Louise Bourgeois, visual artist, 1999; Robert Rauschenberg, visual artist, 2000; and Renzo Piano, architect, 2001.

Forsythe was nominated by the Wexner Center's International Arts Advisory Council and was selected to receive the prize by the trustees of the Wexner Center Foundation.