Client
University of Kansas (KU)Location
KansasECG was jointly retained by the University of Kansas (KU), University of Kansas Physicians (UKP), and the University of Kansas Hospital (KUH) to design, develop, and implement a new integrated academic health system.
The Challenge
KU, KUH, and UKP were separate legal entities that needed a new model for their clinical enterprise, with the goal of greater alignment. Their structure was highly complex and included more than 21 separate corporations—each of which managed its finances and operations independently. The parties were seeking a transformational redesign that would provide greater strategic, financial, and operational alignment to drive health system performance and more effectively sustain the tripartite mission of the AMC.
Our Solution
Key project activities completed by ECG included:
- Developing the key components of a structural transformation that would improve alignment and reduce barriers to collaboration.
- Conducting high-level financial analysis to gauge the feasibility of the structural proposal and developing a financial plan for the future.
- Leading the development of definitive agreements to articulate the new structure and agreements between the health system and university.
- Facilitating negotiations and due diligence between the parties.
- Redesigning enterprise-wide funds flow arrangements to reflect the new organizational structure.
- Defining streamlined governance, management, and leadership structures for the new system.
- Assessing current performance, identifying variation in operating results, and establishing key performance indicators to target for measurement and review.
- Redesigning the system’s ambulatory operations to optimize performance.
- Leading integration of the community-based, hospital-employed physician practices within the new ambulatory division.
- Developing shared and core services in support of the ambulatory environment.
- Providing interim executive leadership.
Our Results
The new University of Kansas Health System was born out of the four-year integration process. This contemporary model for KU’s clinical enterprise included the dissolution of the 18 clinical practice foundations and the establishment of a single, integrated, multispecialty physician organization with a lean governance and management structure, as well as new financial arrangements with the medical school and teaching hospital.
The new system featured a completely redesigned funds flow, both within the health system and between the health system and university. The arrangements included the pooling of health system clinical revenue and development of distribution methods with shared risk/reward to greater align incentives. The university-health system arrangement included a fixed base and a variable component tied to overall health system performance.
