The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has given a 1% across-the-board raise to its employees, but the academic medical center has more work to do on compensation, its chancellor said Thursday.
The salary boost that went into effect Jan. 1 is the second pay initiative inside of a year at the state's largest public employer. It follows a minimum-wage increase to $14 that was announced in May.
In an annual report to the University of Arkansas System board of trustees, Chancellor Cam Patterson mentioned the pay bump, saying it was part of an ongoing look at worker retention as UAMS bounces back from financial problems.
"When you see people leaving UAMS for similar jobs in and around the local area, you know that you have a salary issue," Patterson said in a later interview.
Pay for a workforce of around 10,500 people fell behind as the institution wrestled with money problems, he said. The issues peaked with the layoff of hundreds of people in early 2018.
As they play "catch-up ball" in the wake of those struggles, Patterson said a 1% raise probably is not enough to keep pace with inflation, and officials are working to "bake in" more salary gains for employees.
"We're going to try to build into our budget a higher number for next year -- but at the same time, we need to maintain our fiscal prudence," he said.
Over the past several months, UAMS officials have presented reports to trustees indicating an improved financial outlook. Thursday's annual report was similar and dubbed the progress a "year of change."
Patterson played a video for the board that featured optimistic comments from people in leadership roles, many of whom were appointed to or hired for their positions in 2019.
That included Chief Financial Officer Amanda George, who in recorded remarks touted balanced budgets for the past two accounting periods and a $40 million surplus at the end of fiscal 2019 in June.
UAMS has about $11.5 million more on hand than was expected at this point in the fiscal year, Patterson said. A budgeting process is underway and is expected to be presented to trustees in May.
Dr. Michael Birrer, an expert on gynecologic cancers who was hired in the fall to direct the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, also said in the video that he is working to recruit investigators who can boost UAMS' research funding.
"If we do it correctly, [they] will bring additional [cancer research] dollars with them," he said.
UAMS previously announced a campaign to become a National Cancer Institute-certified cancer treatment center over the next several years, which could improve access to care such as clinical trials for cancer patients in Arkansas.
In his presentation to trustees Thursday, Patterson emphasized new work intended to make UAMS more competitive as an employer, saying its continued success must be a "team sport."
UAMS hasn't done well in evaluating talent and growing its workers' careers, he later explained. A vice chancellor for human resources named in September, Danielle Lombard-Sims, is working on tools to help with that.
"We want to make sure that every employee has a clear ladder here, so that nobody is in a dead-end job," Patterson said.
He also underscored efforts to create a more "equitable" environment, including an evolving initiative with the city of Little Rock and private partners to improve access to affordable housing for employees.
That program is still in the works, but it may include employee benefits such as funding for home improvements or assistance for down payments for housing in the area.
There's "substantial" interest among workers in those plans, Patterson said, but he cautioned that the plans will have to be executed in a way that's sensitive to people living in surrounding neighborhoods.
UAMS leaders want to make sure "this is something that is a positive for the community, and not something that chases people who currently live there out, and makes housing unaffordable," he said.
"We're not interested in that at all."
EXPANSION PLANS
In the annual report to its oversight board, Patterson and other top UAMS officials framed the health sciences center as bent on growth in areas of the state where access to health care has historically been limited.
Central goals include expanding access to graduate medical education (residencies) around the state, as well as expanding clinical care sites.
"You'll see us popping up in parts of the state where we haven't been providing services," Patterson told trustees.
He said UAMS also plans to "shrink the state" through the use of technology, such as through a program launched this month that allows access to doctors through an app-based system.
Expansion plans also have been a theme of late at UAMS in Little Rock, where a $156 million project to build a power plant and revamp energy systems kicked off last summer.
On Thursday, trustees with little discussion signed off on another capital project at the main campus. The estimated $25 million initiative will relocate the Radiation Oncology Center at UAMS.
That will move some accelerators used for therapy to a new building, Patterson said, making patient access easier and adding some inpatient beds.
A timeline for that project, which is still in the design phase, hasn't been hammered out.
Metro on 01/31/2020