After a series of tense emails, the UCF College of Medicine and its partner, Florida Hospital, have come together in an attempt to earn accreditation for the medical program.
“We have focused our attention on the accreditation visit, the matter of foremost importance,” said Lars Houmann, President and CEO of Florida Hospital.
The College of Medicine received a four-day visit last month from a survey team from the Liason Committee of Medical Education, the nationally recognized authority for medical education programs.
“The College of Medicine team – including faculty, students, staff and community partners – worked extremely hard to prepare for the LCME visit. We are pleased with how it went and look forward to hearing more from the LCME next year,” said Grant Heston, Associate Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs.
The College of Medicine earned provisional accreditation from the LCME in June, but hosted a survey team this month, and expects a final accreditation decision next year.
“Full accreditation will not be determined until 2013, when the school’s charter class is in the fourth year of the program,” Heston said.
To prepare for the LCME visit, the College of Medicine invited medical leaders and partners, including Florida Hospital staff, to participate in a mock LCME visit in July.
This focus on accreditation comes despite recent tension which was revealed in September by the Orlando Business Journal’s release of a series of emails exchanged between President John Hitt; Dr. Deborah German, Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the College of Medicine; and Lars Houmann, President and CEO of Florida Hospital. The OBJ obtained the emails through a public records request.
The emails elucidate stress on the partnership caused by the College of Medicine’s development of a graduate medical education program with Florida Hospital competitors, Hospital Corporation of America, and new plans to build a teaching hospital.
“A prominent source of the strain in [the partnership] can be largely attributed to a lack of understanding or agreement on why there has been a departure from the original, well-documented model for the proposed College of Medicine,” Houmann said in an April email.
The model had called for students to use the partners previously existing facilities.
“We are constantly working with partners from across the community to improve education, research and patient care for our region. We are proud to partner with many organizations on many different projects. As for a clinical enterprise, we continue to talk with our partners about how we can work together to best serve our community,” Heston said.
