Page 2          January 2000 Perlmutter wins Weaver Medal Englen: ties in Minnesota, D.C. FormsNirvana fully implemented

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Perlmutter wins  Weaver Medal Cherie R. Perlmutter, second from right, is the 1999 recipient of the Lawrence C. and Delores M. Weaver Medal for Distinguished Contributions for Pharmacy Education, Research, or Outreach. A reception was held Dec. 2 to honor Perlmutter. Standing with Perlmutter are previous Weaver Medal winners Arnold Dedger (left), Lawrence C. Weaver, and Frank E. DiGangi, (right). The annual award recognizes an individual or family for providing sustained and distinguished support of the College of Pharmacy, or for an outstanding contribution to pharmacy education, research, or outreach in Minnesota. Photo by Mark Engebretson

Federal relations director says the recent Medicare relief bill is a short- term fix; vows to work for permanent solutions.

John Engelen

Four months after John Engelen became the University’s director of federal legislation, Congress passed a budget that restores $12.8 billion in cuts to Medicare spending that were mandated by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

Much of the funding will go to graduate health professional education, and will indirectly—but positively—impact the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center.
Engelen generally credits the health care community for “aggressively and effectively” making the case to Washington lawmakers that a true crisis exists in graduate health professional education.

“For our part, Frank Cerra (senior vice president for health sciences), (Medical School Dean) Al Michael, Chris Roberts (AHC communications director), Katherine Johnston (AHC CFO), and all those faculty members who have ever written a letter on this issue played a big role,” Engelen says.

He forgot, however, to single out himself. Undoubtedly, Engelen—a respected, veteran Washington lobbyist—helped win over at least a few lawmakers. His work hasn’t gone unnoticed—especially by his new employer.

“I think John brings some fresh energies and ideas to the table on behalf of the University,” Robert Bruininks, executive vice president and provost, told Regents at their Nov. 12 meeting.

Engelen’s energies and ideas are complemented by his wealth of experience. From 1981 to 1986, he served as an aide to U.S. Sen. David Durenberger. From 1986 to 1993, he directed federal relations for American Cyanamid/Lederle Laboratories. He returned to Minnesota in 1993 to direct state government relations for all 50 states for Ecolab.
“I’ve spent 12 years of my life in Washington, although I’m from here,” Engelen says. “And so, Washington is like a second home town. In a way, it’s the best of both worlds, being able to live here and spend time working there. For me, that’s one attractive part of the job.”

 The other is that the University, where he started in early July, offers Engelen a new challenge.

“It’s just been very exciting to see the breadth of issues that affect this institution system-wide,” he says. “We’re involved in a lot of debates in Washington that are on the cutting edge of a lot of different issues.”

A big part of that breadth is the Academic Health Center. “There’s a considerable amount of interaction between the Academic Health Center and the federal government,” Engelen says, citing health professional education funding, the National Institutes of Health, and informational technology issues as examples.

That relationship is why Engelen works to make Minnesota’s congressional representatives knowledgeable and comfortable about the University. For example, he arranges tours of the University by members of the Minnesota delegation. Earlier this year, Rep. Gil Gutknechkt visited the AHC to speak with researchers whose labs were vandalized last year by members of the Animal Liberation Front.

“I’m always seeking opportunities to invite our congressional delegation and their staff onto campus and to tour the Academic Health Center—to look around, put faces with research, look at research outcomes, and to share information,” Engelen says. “I want them to understand what goes on inside the walls of the Academic Health Center.”

Such understanding can only help the AHC when Congress revisits graduate health professional education funding.

“This fall’s relief legislation is just that—relief,” Engelen says. “It does not cure the root economic issues relating to the education of health care professionals. There will be further policy debate about how best to fund graduate medical education in the future and whether new trust funds or other alternative, broadly based, revenue sources are needed.”

You can bet that Engelen will be in the thick of it, looking out for the interests of the University of Minnesota.

FormsNirvana fully implemented in AHC

In less than a year, the AHC has made its transition to FormsNirvana, an efficient new electronic system designed to prepare, approve, and route accounting documents to College and University Financial Systems (CUFS).

The process started in December 1998 when Frank Cerra, senior vice president for health sciences, and AHC deans adopted FormsNirvana as the AHC’s standard tool to process accounting transactions. At the time, they set July 1999 as the target for having 90 percent of all AHC accounting transactions performed using FormsNirvana. The AHC met and exceeded this goal, and by October, use of FormsNirvana exceeded 96 percent.

“The advantage to FormsNirvana is that we can track the status of business transactions easier and quicker,” said Katherine Cram, associate to the dean at the College of Pharmacy. “In addition, the FormsNirvana purchase orders encumber funds quicker, which supports better financial reporting.”

Other advantages for staff members include the ability to enter transactions on-line, route them for electronic approval, and have them processed overnight. For University departments, FormsNirvana has resulted in fewer lost documents, fewer frustrated vendors, and improved internal control over transaction processing.

More than 10,000 AHC accounting transactions—about a third of the University’s total—are now being entered in FormsNirvana each month, rather than being sent through campus mail to Disbursement Services for data entry.

“Looking at the purchasing and payment process from a University-wide perspective, it does streamline the process, requires less time, and provides more timely information,” Cram said.

Katherine Johnston, CFO of the AHC, said that the efforts made by faculty have helped the AHC become an administrative productivity leader within the University.

“Many staff members have contributed to making FormsNirvana successful in the AHC,” she said. “To all of you we say, ‘thank you and congratulations.’”

Johnston cited in particular the efforts of Cram, Lezlie Nordquist (College of Veterinary Medicine), Jim DeGross (surgery, Medical School), Rich Portnoy (School of Public Health), Nick Molitor (School of Dentistry), Pete Mitsch and Sue Richards (Medical School), Joanne Easter (School of Public Health), Lauri Dromeshauser (School of Medicine-Duluth), Paul Sodergren (School of Nursing), and Ross Janssen and Rob Super (Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences).