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CIGNA HealthCare Announces Changes A change was recently announced by CIGNA HealthCare that affects employees who currently participate in the CIGNA Select network. This change was made by CIGNA without the consent of Baylor College of Medicine and is effective either July 1 or August 1, 2001, depending upon when the physician was notified by CIGNA. The following steps are being taken by CIGNA: 1. Physicians with direct contracts with CIGNA, but have an affiliation with various Independent Practice Associations (IPAs), can no longer participate in the CIGNA Select product unless they designate just one IPA. 2. Physicians who have membership in the CIGNA Select network but have no IPA affiliation must obtain an IPA affiliation to remain in CIGNA Select. 3. If a participant’s physician does not join one IPA within the CIGNA Select Network, the physician will be dropped from the network and a new Primary Care Physician will be assigned automatically by CIGNA for that participant. As a result of this change, Baylor College of Medicine will allow participants in CIGNA Select to make a change to another medical plan at this time. If you are a CIGNA Select participant, you may change to the BCM PPO Plan, the BCM 1000 Plan, or the MethodistCare HMO, or you may waive medical coverage. If you want to make a change, please visit the Benefits Representatives located in the Human Resources Service Center in the lobby of the Alkek building. If you have any questions about this announcement, please call the Benefits Service Center at (713) 798-1500. Baylor Recovering from Tropical Storm Allison Everyone in the Baylor family can be proud of their unwavering spirit, dedication, and sacrifice during the aftermath of Tropical Storm Allison. By working together, we have been able to return the College to its normal day-to-day operations. At present, all buildings are back on full power and all employees have returned to work. Please remember, however, that many parts of the College are still undergoing repairs. Badges must be worn at all times and must be visible. Human Resources processes new Baylor ID badges in the lobby of the Alkek Building. Currently, meal service is limited. Meals, available on the first and third floors of the Alkek Building, are priced at cost. While hospitals are returning to normal operations, please take extra precautions with your health and safety, including protection against mosquitoes. Publications & Creative Services Introduces Lower Prices The Office of Publications & Creative Services (PACS) has now reduced its prices by approximately 15-20 percent on all its graphic arts services and plans to implement similar reductions in its photography area in the near future. Located in Room 224H, Services Building, the Department provides a wide range of services, including writing, editing, publication production, illustration, design and layout, chart and graph production, slide production, and a multitude of photography services to support the College’s educational, research, and clinical programs. PACS, which is a component of the Office of Public Affairs, resulted from a reorganization earlier this year that combined Medical Illustration and the Publications Office of the Office of Public Affairs. Current hours of service for this department are Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information regarding the services offered by Publications & Creative Services, please call Shelagh Yospur, Sr. Director, at 713-798-4726, or e-mail syospur@bcm.tmc.edu. TCH Email Address Changes Effective July 31, 2001, all email addresses to TCH must be of the form <TCH User Name>@texaschildrenshospital.org in order for mail to be delivered to TCH. This means that any Baylor person who has chosen to forward their mail to their TCH account using an older form of the TCH address (such as user@tch.tmc.edu or user@msmail.his.tch.tmc.edu) will experience problems with delivery of mail. For instructions on how to forward your Baylor mail from one email address to another, please go to http://challenger.uss.bcm.tmc.edu/uss/web/mailforwarding.pdf If you have questions or need assistance, please feel free to call the Baylor Help Desk at 798-USER (8737). Human Resources Establishes Service Center After Storm In the hours immediately following Tropical Storm Allison, the Human Resources Department responded to the challenges of providing timely service by creating an HR Service Center. Representatives from each of the HR units were stationed in the Alkek lobby to promote instant communications along with a “one-stop shopping” concept. Since the storm, 335 new employees were hired and processed. To date, each of these employees has also completed the new employee orientation process. To provide instant identification of all employees and visitors in Baylor facilities, over 3,000 badges were made in the HR Service Center location. The Service Center provides all Baylor staff and students the opportunity to meet with representatives from the various HR units for personalized attention. In addition, consultation and information regarding a variety of benefits issues is available from the Benefits Office, as well as the latest information from the International Services Office. During this recovery process, the team developed the approach of having a single point of contact for all Human Resources’ needs. The Service Center is the mechanism for the College to utilize to answer questions, solve problems, and receive requests for services. Human Resources is committed to restoring productivity with easy access to information and service. The Human Resource staff continues to emphasize customer service as a foundation for resolving problems and providing information and referrals. Learning Resources Center To Change Role A major focus of the Vision 05 review process was the development of an education resource center to support both student and faculty learning, to assist faculty with the development of new teaching methods, and to provide the resources and infrastructure needed for all educational endeavors. Expanding the role of the LRC was seen as the best way to accomplish this goal of Vision 05. When the Learning Resource Center (LRC) became the responsibility of Major W. Bradshaw, M.D., Baylor Dean of Education, in July 2000, the name was changed to the Education Resource Center (ERC) to reflect this changing role. Lynn C. Yeoman, Ph.D., Baylor Professor of Pharmacology, has been appointed Executive Director of the ERC. Part of Yeoman’s role will be to co-chair a committee with Boyd Richards, Ph.D., Director of the Office of Curriculum, to coordinate the information technology needs of administrative and academic units of the College, as they pertain to education. Early in the Fall of 2001, input will be sought from all the academic units of the College to define further the scope and function of the ERC. In Memoriam Richard Dickason, M.D., Ph.D. (’98), a third-year resident in Plastic Surgery, is survived by his wife, Nancy Dickason, M.D., a 1995 graduate of Baylor in Pediatrics, their son, and relatives. Michael Spitzer, M.D. (’99), a second-year resident in Anesthesiology at the University of Chicago, is survived by his wife, Christina Spitzer, M.D., (’01), his daughters, sister, and other family members. Medical Terminology/Anatomy and Physiology Course Announced The 28th Annual Medical Terminology/Anatomy and Physiology Course begins Tuesday evening, September 18, 2001, and runs through November 13, 2001. All nine classes will be held in the Michael E. DeBakey Building, Room M-112, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. Those wishing to register can obtain forms by calling Robert E. Roush, Ed.D., at (713) 798-4611; by faxing him at (713) 794-7092; or by e-mailing him at rroush@bcm.tmc.edu. You may also register online at http://www.hcoa.org/medterm.htm. The cost of the course is $95 before September 11, after which the fee rises to $115. The required text, The Language of Medicine, Sixth Edition, by Davi-Ellen Chabner, W.B. Saunders Co., costs $44 plus tax and may be purchased at the first class (checks payable to Nancy Akery). Those wishing to pay via interdepartmental transfer, please send a memo to Jing Javellana in Accounting (with a copy to Tiffany Raczy at Mail Station M-320 requesting a transfer to Account No. 4350008102). For those needing Baylor’s Tax ID Number, it is 74-1613878. “Compassion and the Art of Medicine” Series Begins in August The effects of AIDS on Third-World children is the subject of the first Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture, scheduled August 24 during Baylor College of Medicine’s “Compassion and the Art of Medicine” Lecture Series. Mark W. Kline, M.D. (’81), Director of Baylor’s International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, and Smiley Pool, a Houston Chronicle photographer, will share their experiences working with HIV-infected infants and children in Africa and Romania. The Matthew Carter Memorial Lecture was established in memory of the first-year Baylor medical student killed last September. “We are hoping that through this lecture, Matthew’s ideas of compassion and service live on,” said Alfred Llave, a second-year medical student and organizer of the student committee that helped to plan the event. Compassion and the Art of Medicine is an annual series of lectures for medical students and the public. The first presentation this year is August 10. Presenters are selected based on work that reflects the importance of compassion in the field of medicine. “Medical students come to Baylor with a strong desire to help patients who are sick and suffering,” said Warren Holleman, M.D., Director of the Series and an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at Baylor. “Yet with all the hard work that they do in medical school, sometimes they can lose track of the reason they came here in the first place. The purpose of this lecture series is to encourage them to maintain the spirit of compassion that brought them to a healing profession, even as they are going through a stressful training process.” Other speakers include poet B.F. Maiz who will discuss the poetry of love, hope, grief, and healing on August 10. On August 17, family physician Patti Wetzel, M.D., will reflect on her experiences as a physician and a patient and on the risks inherent in the medical profession. Wetzel was infected with HIV through an accidental needle stick. The Radio Music Theatre comedy team will provide students a much-needed break from the seriousness of studying on September 14. Baylor’s Department of Family and Community Medicine presents the series with a grant from The Community Hospital Foundation Inc. and sponsorship from the Warwick Hotel and Southwest Airlines. Admission is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Reservations are not required. Free brown-bag lunches will be available to the first 200 attendees. Presentations begin at noon, followed by a question-and-answer session at 1 p.m. All sessions will be held in the McMillian Auditorium at Baylor College of Medicine, DeBakey Building, One Baylor Plaza. Parking is available in Garage 4, adjacent to the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Building. For more information, contact Christine Sargus at 713-798-7751. Baylor Instructor Speaks for Dietetic Association Joan Carter, Baylor Instructor of Pediatrics, has been appointed Houston-area Media Spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. A registered dietitian, Carter also serves as Nutrition Communications Manager for the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in business with a focus on agribusiness from Santa Clara University in California. In addition to her expertise in nutrition, Carter is a European cordon-bleu trained chef. Credit Union Opens New Branch Office Baylor’s Federal Credit Union has opened a new branch office, located at the corner of Bellaire Boulevard and Stella Link. The new facility is designed to provide easier access to the Credit Union services, including reserved parking places immediately in front of the office. The Branch Office will provide the same services that are provided at the on-campus main office and will be open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Currently, the main office has been relocated to the 2nd floor of the Services Building on Baylor’s campus. |
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