Final Report:
Concluding Summary of Activities
in Response to the Medical Task Force Report
January, 2007
Introduction
At the request of President Susan Hockfield, in December 2005 Executive Vice President Sherwin Greenblatt convened a multi-disciplinary working group to address the forty-one recommendations included in the final report of the Medical Task Force (MTF) issued earlier in the year, specifically to examine the financial and operational implications of implementation. Working group members include Tricia Fay (Director of Benefits), Sherwin Greenblatt (EVP and Treasurer), Bill Kettyle (Director, MIT Medical), Jim Morgan (Controller), and Israel Ruiz (Director of Finance).
This final report is a supplement to the progress report submitted in March 2006.
Overview
The working group has continued to meet and work diligently to address the MTF recommendations. I am pleased to report that all forty-one recommendations have been actively addressed and reviewed. Specific actions have been taken, analyses performed, ideas and new processes implemented, and issues resolved. We have dedicated resources for new personnel and programs to carry out some of these plans. For many of the recommendations, the work also resulted in implementation of new practices and continuous improvement efforts. There is no defined end/completion date for such cases, but rather a process that was put in place. For a few recommendations, the working group recommended no further action after further review and analysis.
The Medical Task Force Report helped to highlight and emphasize important issues for the Institute to address. The activities of this working group resulted in a team that will continue to work collaboratively together and established processes for ongoing improvement from which MIT will benefit. Overall, I believe the state of medical services and health insurance programs has been strengthened and improved from this initiative.
Summary of Activities
The working group categorized the 41 recommendations into the following subsets:
- General (2 recommendations)
- Targeted to the Medical Department (19 recommendations)
- Targeted to MIT’s Budgeting and Financial Management Systems for the MIT Medical Department (4 recommendations)
- Targeted to Health Insurance Programs (15 recommendations)
- Targeted to the Review of Written Comments in the Surveys (1)
The status, activities, and outcome of each of the forty-one recommendations is summarized in Appendix A (PDF). In addition, documentation has been compiled which details the work for each of the recommendations.
Conclusion
The changing nature of the regulatory, internal financial, and socio-economic environments has, and will continue to preclude achieving a “steady state” in the delivery of medical services; and has, and will continue to require adaptability on the part of MIT and its employees. The Medical Task Force recommendations and the efforts of the working group have established a process and framework to better prepare MIT to manage these challenges going forward.
I would like to thank the working group and their departmental colleagues for all their hard work and commitment to help improve the state of medical services and health insurance programs for the entire MIT community. Finally, we are grateful to the Medical Task Force for their efforts and contribution to the Institute.