Department of Family Medicine: Policy on Unbudgeted Opportunities within a Fiscal Year

Unit Policy

Title

Department of Family Medicine: Policy on Unbudgeted Opportunities within a Fiscal Year

Introduction

Purpose

To balance faculty opportunities for new responsibilities with the need to meet budget targets, understanding that external funding is not equivalent to clinical income (i.e. 20% FTE from outside support is not equivalent financially to 20% FTE allocated to clinical work).

Scope

All clinical faculty in the Department of Family Medicine. Opportunities that arise for a fiscal year for which the department’s budget submission process is complete (e.g. the budget submission process for a given fiscal year is typically completed circa the preceding February; this policy would apply all opportunities arising from that February through the end of June the following calendar year).

Policy

Policy Statement

Changes to clinical faculty responsibilities, including (but not limited to) taking on new research, teaching, or leadership roles in the School of Medicine or with UNC Health, must be approved in advance by the Vice Chair of Clinical Excellence and Vice Chair of Administration.

Options available to faculty within an already budgeted year:

  1. Buy down clinical time based on the exact amount of new outside support (the dollar amount minus opportunity costs (lost clinical receipts minus new salary support) and cost of FP benefits to the department. This makes the transition revenue neutral, although still reduces availability to patients.
  1. Faculty receives the full extra support in cash. Clinical expectations for the remainder of the year are unchanged.
  1. Occasionally, some grants and contracts will allow phasing in over several months with full implementation of the support in July. Rarely, the support can even be fully deferred until July, when a new fiscal year starts.  

In all these scenarios, the Grid will be adjusted in the next budget year to include the outside support unless the faculty member chooses to remain over-gridded (responsibilities totaling more than 1.05 FTE), in which case the faculty member receives 50% of the over-grid percent in extra salary.  The remaining 50% is retained by the department.

For example, 20% support from OME for one year (can prorate these numbers for the portion of the year affected) changes the finances in this way (based on a $156,000 salary, OME pays ~$37,400 ($31,200 salary plus 20% of faculty benefits which is $6200). HD = half-day (one session)

FTE Clinical Sessions Lost Clinical Receipts Net Loss to Dept
20% 20% divided by 12.5% (grid value for one HD per week for 45 weeks) = 1.6 HD per week x 45 weeks x 9 visits per session x $152 per visit ($98,496) ($64,196)
OME Support ($37,400) minus lost clinical receipts minus the ~10% faculty benefits not funded by OME

Another example - 15% support from a grant would be $23,400 based on $156,000 salary:

FTE Clinical Sessions Lost Clinical Receipts Net Loss to Dept
15% 15% divided by 12.5% = 1.2 HD per week x 45 weeks x 9 visits per session x $152 per visit ($73,872) ($50,472)
Grant salary support ($23,400) minus lost clinical receipts (many grants cover faculty benefits) 

Note: For faculty who have 15% or more department-funded administrative time, any outside funding, especially if it is related to the administrative role, goes to offset the department support.

Definitions 

  • Grid - The department’s faculty time management spreadsheet, which details each faculty member’s responsibilities and corresponding FTE.

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Name: Karen Halpert, MD – Vice Chair of Clinical Excellence

Telephone: 984-974-4675

Email: Karen_Halpert@med.unc.edu

Other Contacts

Name: Kevin Tate, MHA – Vice Chair for Administration

Telephone: 984-974-4669

Email: ktate@med.unc.edu

 

Name: Andrew Olsson – Manager of Financial Services

Telephone: 984-974-4880

Email: Andrew_Olsson@med.unc.edu

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