UAB Health System Names Chief Executive Officer

Dr. William Ferniany became chief executive officer of the UAB Health System effective September 2008. A senior leader in health care since 1975 and in academic medicine since 1988, Ferniany came to UAB from his position as associate vice chancellor and chief executive officer of the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson, having previously held key leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and at UAB. Ferniany earned his bachelor's degree in manpower and industrial relations from the University of Alabama, and his master's degree in hospital and health administration and doctorate in administration-health services from UAB. While at Penn, he was on the faculty of the Wharton Business School.

Williams Elected Board Chairman Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation

Mark S. Williams, MD, MBA, JD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the St. Vincent's health system was re-elected as chairman of the board of directors of the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation (AQAF). Dr. Williams has been a board member of AQAF for over a decade. Williams has been named as one of the "best doctors in America" for the past ten years and was selected as among the 'top 50 in healthcare' by the Birmingham Business Journal. He is also a clinical associate professor at the UAB. He continues to practice part-time as a board certified anesthesiologist and has been an oral examiner for the American Board Of Anesthesiology for 18 years. He is the CEO of southern perioperative services and was formerly chief of staff at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. He was a full-time faculty member at UAB for 12 years and co-medical director of UAB's Kirklin Clinic Surgery Center. A graduate of the University Of Alabama School Of Law (2001), Dr. Williams clerked at Sirote & Permut and is a member of the Alabama State Bar. He earned his MBA degree from Samford University in 1995.

Alabama Hospitals Achieve Medicare Reporting Benchmark

AQAF, Alabama's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO), announced today that, for the first time all Alabama hospitals that receive payment from Medicare under the acute-care, inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) qualified for full payment for their services billed to Medicare. Only 20 other states had all of their hospitals qualify for full payment. Alabama's 98 PPS hospitals — which include 50 urban hospitals as well as 48 rural facilities — are required under Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 regulations to meet specific data reporting and validation criteria in order to receive full Medicare payment (called the Annual Payment Update, or APU). All 98 met the criteria for fiscal year 2009. "We commend our Alabama hospitals for this outstanding achievement," said Fred Ferree, CEO of AQAF. "It demonstrates their commitment to transparency and excellence in patient care." For FY 2009, Medicare's criteria for full payment were to:

• Collect and report data on 30 quality measures, covering care for heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia; surgical care improvement; 30-day mortality rates following heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia hospitalizations; and patients' experience of care (measured by a satisfaction survey)
• Pass a quarterly audit of sample medical records (a check that the medical records support the reported quality measure data) with an overall score of at least 80 percent for cases from the four quarters ending September 30, 2007
• Agree to display the results of their quality measure data on Hospital Compare (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) for public viewing

MGMA Chapter Opens in Cullman

A new local MGMA chapter was established in Cullman in October. Officers were elected, including President Sandy Brown of Cullman Regional Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Vice President Debbie Brumbeloe of Cullman Internal Medicine, and Secretary/Treasurer Judy Freeland of Urgent Care Center. Angie Glasscock of Cullman Obstetrics & Gynecology will serve as Member at Large. The new MGMA chapter will meet every other month at the Cullman Chamber of Commerce. The next meeting is scheduled for January 8, 2009 from 11:30 to 1:00. To attend, please contact Debbie Brumbeloe at dbrumbeloe@prn-inc.net or 256-737-8008.

Children's Hospital Receives CON Approval For Replacement Facility

The State Health Planning and Development Agency's Certificate of Need (CON) Board has approved Children's Hospital of Alabama's plans for a more than 700,000 square foot, $480 million replacement/expansion facility on its downtown Birmingham campus. In addition, Children's was approved to add 57 licensed beds to its existing 275 bed capacity. Children's CON application came before the CON Board uncontested. Construction is expected to begin in early 2009 on the project which was announced earlier this year, and will be located on the block directly north of the current hospital and will incorporate its existing buildings and the Children's Harbor facility. The Children's Board of Trustees granted approval in January of this year to proceed with planning for a possible hospital facility expansion that would relieve crowding in the current building, help to accommodate projected growth in patient volumes, and allow for anticipated medical technology needs and planned consolidation of pediatric services. The new facility and campus will be named the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children in honor of Benjamin Russell (1876-1941), the Russell Family Patriarch and legendary entrepreneur. The renaming will occur with the opening of the new facility, anticipated sometime in 2012.

Benveniste Named Maxwell UAHSF Endowed Chair

Etty "Tika" Benveniste, Ph.D., has been named the inaugural holder of the Alma B. Maxwell UAHSF Endowed Chair at UAB. Benveniste is the chair of the UAB Department of Cell Biology and associate director of basic research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Benveniste is an international expert on the biologic pathways linking the immune and nervous systems. Her research has focused on a class of proteins produced in the body called chemokines and cytokines, which are known to play a role in infection, cancer, chronic inflammation and other conditions. Benveniste is a professor of cell biology, physiology and biophysics, neurology and neurobiology at UAB. She continues to serve as a senior scientist for UAB's Center for AIDS Research and UAB's Arthritis Center. She earned her doctorate degree in immunology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and after completing her postdoctoral fellowship, came to UAB in 1986 as a research assistant professor in the Department of Neurology. Benveniste holds grants from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and other sources.

Local Volunteer Honored with State Award

At the recent fall conference of the Alabama Council of Hospital Auxiliaries, Terry Wayne "TJ" Bolinger, Jr., a volunteer at St. Vincent's East, Birmingham, was named the state's 2008 Outstanding Teenage Volunteer. The award is presented to someone who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to hospitals and the patients they serve. "Many young people wouldn't dream of giving up their summer vacation time or their ability to earn a little spending money," said Linda Jordan, chairman of the Alabama Hospital Association and presenter of the 2008 Award. "Yet, this young man has spent his last four summers volunteering at the hospital. He is said to do whatever is asked and due to his dependability, has been tapped to handle many special assignments, such as being a team leader in a major human resource project." Cathy Storch, director of volunteer services at St. Vincent's East, claims TJ was the teen volunteer that all departments requested to have back the next summer. She adds "he has a generous and compassionate soul, which he uses to invite others into his realm of friends."

Pasche Named To May Endowed Chair

Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., director of the division of hematology and oncology at UAB, has been named the Martha Ann and David L. May Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the appointment. Pasche is an internationally recognized expert on the genetics of cancer and associate director of translational research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Dr. Pasche fits the role perfectly because this endowment was designed to support research that will lead to a better understanding of the causes of cancer, and explore new treatments," said Cancer Center Director Edward Partridge, M.D. "I can think of no higher honor to support this researcher with this particular endowment." Pasche came to UAB this year from Northwestern University in Chicago where he was director of the cancer genetics program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and Feinberg School of Medicine. He serves on the National Cancer Institute's cancer genetics study section. Pasche earned medical degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute. After a fellowship at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he completed an internship, medical residency and a fellowship at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the New York Hospital, Cornell University Medical College respectively. Pasche is contributing editor at Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and editor at The Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. The endowed chair is named for Martha Ann May Klaus in honor of her late husband, David L. May. He was a patient at UAB's Cancer Center and received treatment for prostate cancer before his death in 1995. The namesake family members are noted business and community leaders in Vicksburg, Miss.

Trinity Medical Center Names New Executives

Trinity Medical Center has hired two new executives. Kay Brasfield has been named Director of Business Development, where she will be responsible for the management of Affinity Physician Services, recruitment and retention of physicians to the hospital, and new business development. Brasfield received her bachelor's degree in marketing and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has over 20 years of healthcare management experience. Kevin Cargill has been named Assistant Chief Financial Officer. Prior to this appointment, he served as Accounting Manager at Tenet Atlanta Medical Center in Atlanta, GA, and as Assistant Controller at Tenet Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Weston, FL. Cargill also served as Senior Auditor at Tenet Corporate Audit Services in Dallas, TX. He received his bachelor's degree in accounting from Oakwood College in Huntsville and a master's in business administration from the University of Dallas.