UTMC organizational structure changes designed to match positions, skill sets

June 17, 2010 | UToday
By Jon Strunk



When he was appointed interim vice president and executive director of The University of Toledo Medical Center, Dr. Scott Scarborough told UTMC leadership he was going to start with a 30-day listening tour.

As those 30 days wind to a close, Scarborough, senior vice president for finance and administration, told members of the Operational Leadership Team June 16 that while there is still much he has to learn, he believed it was important to start moving forward with ways UTMC’s leadership could be better structured to maximize individual strengths.

“I want to emphasize this is not because anyone is doing anything wrong,” Scarborough said. “Quite the opposite. I want to see if we can put people in positions where their skill sets and passions will enable them to achieve more for UT and get more out of their jobs personally.”

Scarborough said the new draft organizational structure is the product of many productive conversations and that he, Norma Tomlinson and others will be seeking further input on in the weeks ahead. Tomlinson is associate vice president and associate executive director of UTMC.

Under the new structure, inpatient nursing and ancillary services will report to Tomlinson, while operating room administration and outpatient clinics will report directly to Scarborough with a dotted line relationship to Tomlinson. Finance, accounting and budgeting functions will continue to report directly to Scarborough.

Scarborough asked small teams to lead efforts to minimize wait times in outpatient clinics and find efficiencies. Additionally, a director of patient satisfaction position will be created to help address a priority need for the institution, he said.

“If this isn’t the right structure, then we’ll change it again,” Scarborough said. “But by working as a team, I think we’ll be able to accomplish more, and any team works best when members are put in positions where they will be most successful.

“I’m not worried about individuals’ weaknesses — the team covers up for that,” he said. “Where I have weaknesses, Norma and others in this room have strengths and that’s the case for everyone here.”

With the correct team members in the right places, Scarborough said the next step was to start developing a game plan to improve hospital services in the face of some challenging financial circumstances both at UT and in the health-care industry.

“I know some of the pieces of this game plan, but I need your help putting it together as one comprehensive plan,” he told Operational Leadership Team members. He also encouraged UTMC leadership to look at staff in their own areas to see if people were in positions that maximized their talents.

“We have a number of challenges in front of us that can seem pretty daunting,” Scarborough said, “but by working together and executing that game plan we will create, I think we’ll see improvements across the hospital.”

Click to access the login or register cheese