Strategic Goals

Goal #1: Transform academic programs to prepare learners better for the new health care paradigm

1. Evolve, curricula, training sites and resources at each professional school to support inter-professional learning throughout the education continuum.
2. Prepare all learners to understand and operate in an evolving economic model.
3. Diversify our platforms for delivering care to appropriately expose our students to new technologies and expand their training to different care settings.
4. Continue and expand support of our pipeline programs that attract well-qualified students into our professional schools and other training programs.
5. Educate and support all health professionals and students in the use of technology in clinical care delivery and academic programs.
6. Support the health care workforce in Mississippi through appropriate enrollment and improving retention rates of graduates in Mississippi.
7. Support regulatory changes which appropriately expand the scope of practice for all health professionals.
8. Explore alternative sources of funds and education methods to offset limited growth in traditional funding streams and continued increases in the cost of education.
9. Apply online courses/teaching and tele-education to enhance current programmatic training and serve the continuing education needs across the state.
10. Maintain standards necessary for all relevant accreditations.

Goal #2: Advance health-care science through new discoveries and technology management

1. Grow and retain UMMC's research leaders by recruiting extramurally funded biomedical researchers and identifying and training young researchers with long-term potential.
2. Build on a strong portfolio of basic science research to enable increased translational and clinical discoveries.
3. Create and grow an effective clinical research and trials infrastructure that aligns research priorities and clinical growth objectives.
4. Advance our knowledge by leveraging the state's diverse patient population by expanding trials and fully leveraging our Telehealth network into a variety of community and rural settings and, in so doing, ensure all communities benefit from our research mission.

Goal #3: Maintain financial strength in an evolving health-care paradigm in order to support the mission of the Medical Center

1. Reduce per-unit costs of care to promote long-term financial strength in both fee-for-service and capitated reimbursement models.
2. Maximize the use of existing assets by optimizing operational efficiency, productivity and throughput.
3. Continue to grow high complexity services where UMMC has an existing core competency and/or is the only provider in the state.
4. Continue enhancing fundraising infrastructure and pursue philanthropy dollars in alignment with program priorities.
5. Create greater balance between the sources and uses of funds for the education and research missions, to reduce overall reliance on clinical margins.
6. Work with the state to enhance funding levels needed to sustain UMMC's academic and public safety net missions.

Goal #4: Cultivate an engaged, effective, professional and diverse workforce and leadership team

• Position the institution competitively with respect to compensation, benefits, performance based incentives, and career progression through creating/sustaining a culture which balances effective support, autonomy, entrepreneurship, and continuous learning for all employees.
• Ensure faculty and staff recruitment levels align with our business needs and plans.
• Sustain strong leadership of UMMC through relevant, scalable professional development programs, proactive succession planning, and talent management planning resources that support knowledge transfer and career transitions.
• Invest in and leverage technology to enable cost effective and efficient solutions to better support/manage our human capital.

Goal #5: Be the leader in the delivery of value based care (quality, service, cost)

1. Optimize UMMC's network to deliver appropriate care in the appropriate location by the appropriate level of provider.
2. Reduce variations in care by adopting care models that utilize evidence-based guidelines and care pathways proven to enhance patient outcomes.
3. Enable effective care by promoting transparency through the collection, risk-adjustment and publication of key outcomes and safety metrics.
4. Create a more robust transitional care program at UMMC that expands post-acute capabilities and improves access for patients that need such services.
5. Partner with local providers to expand the continuum of behavioral health services for both children and adults regionally, leveraging technology and greater access to improve the health of this population.
6. Strategically invest in the ambulatory platform both on campus and in a distributed manner to enhance access, improve physician referrals and lower cost of care.

Goal #6: Promote a culture of patient- and family-centered care

1. Educate and engage all employees on our campus around their roles in delivering patient- and family- centered care.
2. Organize all care around the patient, coordinating treatment from their home through all providers and settings across the continuum.
3. Help patients and families navigate the care continuum so that they are actively engaged in their care and receive appropriate guidance in managing transitions.
4. Engage in trans-disciplinary care that enhances communication, collaboration and the gathering of appropriate input from all relevant providers.
5. Transition primary care practices and FQHC (federally qualified health center) partner sites to meet PCMH (patient-centered medical home) standards.

Goal #7: Improve the health status of our state through increased access, population health management and expanded breadth/depth of services

1. Develop a portfolio of options which focus on addressing health and health-care needs for rural communities across the state.\
2. Resolve key operational bottlenecks associated with patient access to and utilization of UMMC services.
3. Develop new care models as part of a robust telehealth plan that leverages the existing infrastructure, beginning with select patient populations (e.g., stroke, behavioral health, COPD, CHF, etc.).
4. Establish a range of evidence-based approaches to influence lifestyle changes that support health and well-being.
5. Collaborate with local, state and national agencies to improve health (i.e., MS DOH, FQHC, MEC, etc.).

Goal #8: Foster a network of collaborative partnerships and advance advocacy efforts to improve health in Mississippi

1. Develop a comprehensive methodology to proactively identify, evaluate and prioritize all network development opportunities.
2. Leverage UMMC's relationship with the State and commercial payers to develop pilot programs that include alternative payment models including pay for performance and population health capabilities associated with the management of high-risk, high-utilizer patients. Provide a sustainable value proposition to independent physician partners by offering a supportive infrastructure which improves ease of access and practice for them.
3. Determine opportunities for creating additional community teaching sites for all learners.
4. Expand the telehealth network to create additional or improved access points in underserved communities.
5. Develop a suite of services (i.e., clinical, research, training, administrative) which can be packaged and provided to future partners based on their respective requests.

Goal #9: Integrate and align across missions and entities

1. Streamline committee structures to ensure accountability and effective decision-making.
2. Create an institution-wide balanced scorecard that includes a set of high-impact metrics that span all the missions and entities.
3. Change the incentives at the individual business unit level to put greater emphasis on balanced score-card metrics which reflect institutional success.
4. Create more visibility into the productive use of funds across business units and align accountability with span of control.
5. Make revenue decisions centrally, with the objectives of maximizing the total dollars that flow to the Medical Center and supporting strategic initiatives.
6. Create a culture of “all money is blue” by limiting unnecessary transfers of funds across mission areas.
7. Explore the development of a pilot "institute model" around a designated area under single leadership with accountability for the full continuum of care delivery, research and education.
8. Create new communications vehicles and leverage technology to promote transparency of decision- making and ensure information is appropriately transmitted to all key stakeholders.

Goal #10: Create an environment of scholarship, trust, accountability, equity, safety, quality and service excellence

1. Improve alignment and trust by promoting greater transparency.
2. Ensure that all major strategic investments are supported with a comprehensive business plan, justifying the investment and aligning with the strategic direction of the organization.
3. Invest in the appropriate level of critical infrastructure (e.g., facilities, IT, marketing, HR, business analytics, etc.) to enable execution of strategic priorities.
4. Empower leadership across the organization to make decisions at the appropriate level to create ownership, accountability and improved positioning of each of the business level entities.
5. Improve communication within business units and across the institution.
6. Continue to emphasize scholarship and continuous learning as a key component of institutional culture.