LINCOLN — University of Nebraska officials gave themselves 90 days to negotiate a long-term agreement with the Omaha Community Foundation to serve as a replacement partner in operating Nebraska Medicine, the university's healthcare arm.
The NU Board of Regents, during a brief meeting Monday with members gathered remotely, approved a new, temporary governing structure for Nebraska Medicine that NU President Dr. Jeffrey Gold said would "buy time" for the university to seek to reach a definitive agreement with the foundation.
Gold said after the meeting that the foundation in many ways represents the "breadth and depth" of the philanthropic organizations that serve Omaha and Nebraska as a whole, some of which already provide backing for the medical center's clinical, research and educational pursuits.
"Their board and their leadership team stepped up and came to us and said we're willing to roll up our sleeves and work with you if we can make this happen in a way that's fair and balanced and represents the best interests of the community," Gold said. "And that's what resonated to the regents."
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The amended bylaws and articles of incorporation the board approved Monday will be in effect from July 1 to Sept. 30. They give the Omaha Community Foundation the ability to appoint two of the four voting members of Nebraska Medicine's board, the organization's governing body. The regents would appoint the other two.
Gold said the four voting members during the 90-day period will be Gold himself, Dr. H. Dele Davies, who becomes UNMC's chancellor on July 1; Donna Kush, the Omaha Community Foundation's president and CEO; and Bruce Grewcock, chairman of Peter Kiewit & Sons.
Another five leaders from UNMC and Nebraska Medicine will serve as non-voting members.
Meanwhile, the university is "on track" to close June 30 on Clarkson Regional Health Services' exit from co-ownership of Nebraska Medicine, he said. Clarkson Regional told university officials nearly two years ago that it planned withdraw from the arrangement and pursue other goals, including local health-related philanthropy.
Public release of those plans later kicked off an eventful and politically complicated effort to resolve the future governance of one of the state's largest health systems.
In January, the regents voted to move ahead with a proposal to become the sole member of Nebraska Medicine, the healthcare-providing partner of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, with the backing of Gov. Jim Pillen, a former regent.
But the proposal sparked objections from Nebraska Medicine and its former board, including a lawsuit that was later dismissed, and concerns from some state lawmakers and philanthropists. Among their worries: that the university, which faces budget woes, might one day tap the health system's resources to address its own needs.
Nebraska Medicine officials repeatedly called for finding a replacement partner for Clarkson in the health system. After Nebraska Medicine filed its lawsuit, the regents and Clarkson Regional replaced the health system's former board of directors with an interim group made up of university and Clarkson Regional leaders. Grewcock was among those serving on the health system's former board when members were dismissed.
In approving the plan, NU regents assured Nebraskans they had no intention of interfering with the health system but rather planned to continue to build it.
Shortly after the January vote, Gold said Monday, the university was approached by members of the private philanthropic community who wanted to work with them during the transition.
Over a period of time, they "gelled" around the idea that the Omaha Community Foundation would be the best entity to be that partner.
The foundation, he said, is one of the largest and best-respected community foundations in the country. "So it seemed like a very attractive entity to represent that partnership with the community and with the philanthropic leaders of the Omaha area," Gold said.
The NU president, a former UNMC chancellor, noted that the university has a "genuine partnership" with the philanthropic community, from investments in the Fred & Pamela Buffett Center and other buildings to endowed professorships and research labs, that "puts the air under the wings" of the university, and in this case UNMC and Nebraska Medicine.
"Having this type of governance does appear to be attractive, assuming it can be done in ... legalistic terms that are acceptable" to the community foundation and the regents.
The regents revealed the plan for the Omaha Community Foundation to step into the role at least temporarily after emerging from an executive session June 18.
The Omaha Community Foundation said last week that it would be collaborating with NU and the Walter Scott Family Foundation on a potential model for Nebraska Medicine that preserves the proven infrastructure in place today.
"This potential partnership is intended to support long-term stability, balanced governance and continued community stewardship while allowing Nebraska Medicine to remain focused on patient care, education and innovation," a spokeswoman for the Omaha Community Foundation said in a statement Friday.
Gold said the next 90 days would determine whether the arrangement becomes permanent.
"But I can tell you, on the part of the Board of Regents and myself, we're going to roll up our sleeves, work really hard and try to nail this," he said.
