UW's Milwaukee Clinical Campus Sold Out

Lee Rayburn | 3/30/2006 12:04 pm | ...

For 32 years, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) has run a clinical program in Milwaukee called the Milwaukee Clinical Campus (MCC), based out of Sinai Samaritan Hospital.  The MCC has provided medical care to Milwaukee's poor and uninsured, while providing unique urban training opportunities for medical students and residents.  In 1992, Aurora Health Care bought Sinai and took over the MCC program.  The UW Board of Regents signed an agreement with Aurora placing control of the MCC in the hands of the UWSMPH.  The agreement also guaranteed at least four years written notice, if Aurora or the UW intended to terminate the MCC program.

I wouldn't be writing this, of course, had the UW Board of Regents' agreement with Aurora had not turned sour.  On June 20, 2005, UWSMPH's Dean Phillip Farrell announced that the MCC program had been turned over to Aurora Health Care and notified more than 50 physicians and midwives that their employment would be terminated as of June 30, 2006.  Neither the UW Board of Regents, Milwaukee patients, nor elected officials were ever given the opportunity to offer any input, oversight or review of this decision.  Farrell's announcement directly violated the agreement between the Board of Regents and Aurora.  Almost half of the doctors fired by Dean Farrell filed wrongful termination grievances or appeals.  In turn, the UW-Madison refused to schedule hearings for these appeals.  On February 9, 2006, Dean Phillip Farrell announced that a brand new affiliation agreement had been put into effect without any formal hearing or review.  Dean Farrell's new agreement transfers all control of the MCC to Aurora and make all academic staff Aurora employees in the private sector.  The new agreement between the university and Aurora was not signed by a single member of the Board of Regents, but rather a UW Vice-Chancellor.  Now, Dean Phillip Farrell is planning on leaving the university and has been offered a seat on Aurora Health Care's Board of Directors. 

At the very least, these decisions deserve public hearings and input from the physicians at the MCC and the patients in Milwaukee.  Ideally, this new agreement for Aurora will be reversed by the UW Board of Regents, the MCC will be returned to the UW, and Milwaukee will be able to continue to rely on the health services of the MCC.  Call the Board of Regents at 262-2324 and urge them to stop the dismantling of the Milwaukee Clinical Campus.

Thanks to the hard work of Citizen Action Wisconsin for contributing to this

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