Chapter 15: The Center for Global Oncology Becomes the MD Anderson Cancer Network, Part II
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Description
Ms. Hay returns to the story of the Center for Global Oncology’s transformation into the MD Anderson Cancer Network. She explains that this was a sign of growth and maturation and became necessary so MD Anderson could develop a clear line of products that allowed affiliation with the institution.
Identifier
HayAC_02_20150602_C15
Publication Date
6-2-2015
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution; The Business of MD Anderson; The MD Anderson Brand, Reputation; MD Anderson History; Institutional Processes; Building/Transforming the Institution; Growth and/or Change; Business of Research; Fiscal Realities in Healthcare; The Healthcare Industry
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Very interesting. So, I’m interested—that kind of shift from the Center for Global Oncology to the MD Anderson Network. Is there any other facets of that morphing of that closed group into a more open group that you want to tell me about, in terms of culture shift at MD Anderson, or shift in focus?
Amy Carpenter Hay:
No, I mean, I think that the whole—the real reason for that was to align all of the national programs. So, you know, in the Center for Global Oncology, it was nationally only about the partner members. The new Cancer Network was an attempt to align all of the products, so you had the certified membership, the partner members. You know, you were—we were trying to aggregate everything together. It was also an acknowledgement that we had our MD Anderson’s Physicians’ Network, which is the separate 501(c)(3) that the certified members sit in, and it needed to be pulled into MD Anderson. We no longer—because we were all growing so quickly—should have had a kind of outside product that wasn’t aligned with everything else. And that was really the focus, was to pull in the certified members and ensure that we had a product line that was clear, and that we all understood.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
That’s—I mean, it’s a measure of your specialization that, you know, you talk—speak this—in this kind of language, of product line and that kind of thing. It’s a different way of thinking about the institution than most of the people that I interview. So, thinking about that idea—aligning a product line—what does that—what does that do? What’s the impact of that, for MD Anderson, to align—to align products within one organizational division within the institution, rather than have them split among several? I mean, it may seem like an obvious question for you, but believe me, there are people who are like, “Wait a minute—product line? I don’t think of MD Anderson in that way.”
Amy Carpenter Hay:
Yeah, they don’t. And that—but that’s what I get paid for. I mean, I get paid to think about how do we make the business of MD Anderson successful, in order to support the research of MD Anderson. So, you know, I think the importance of having the products all under one umbrella is to ensure that there’s clarity on what they are. They don’t overlap. They don’t step on each other. It’s organized in a fashion that everyone should understand. Now that doesn’t mean everyone does, but we need to be better, as an organization, and clearer about what is a certified membership. What does that entail? What do you get? What’s the branding associated? Versus a partner member: what does that entail? What do you get? And what’s the branding component? So, it—the attempt was to ensure that we understood what we were doing out there, whether it’s nationally or internationally. And in doing so, really tried to have an orchestrated effort around it. So, for example, if I am in Jacksonville, Florida, I shouldn’t be working on a partnership when someone in another company is working on a certified member. That doesn’t make sense. We have to be organized. We’ve gotten too big to do it one-off. And I think a lot of this kind of maturation from Center for Global Oncology to the Cancer Network has been a growth pattern. As we’ve gotten bigger, we’ve had to reevaluate how we organize ourselves, in order to be more transparent and, quite frankly, more efficient.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, the Physicians’ Network—you mentioned how it just didn’t make sense to have it out there. What was—what was the problem with having it just kind of hanging out there, and what’s been the effect of bringing it into the MD Anderson network?
Amy Carpenter Hay:
Well, now it’s organized, and it is at least informed and acknowledged by MD Anderson as a whole. Much like Orlando, the Physicians’ Network used to be seen as this separate 501(c)(3). That’s not us. That’s something else. By pulling it into the Cancer Network, we were acknowledging that this is part of what we do as MD Anderson. [inaudible].
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
And what—what is—just quickly summarize what is the Physicians’ Network.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
Well, it’s more about the products—so, the certified membership. The certified membership is the quality-assurance tool. So, the retrospective quality-assurance tool—so that’s something that we do as an organization. Now, the Physicians’ Network is, from a legal perspective, a separate 501(c)(3) that, quite frankly, we just used for contracting. So as a state agency, it’s oftentimes very difficult to [laughs] to contract.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Right.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
This allows us some flexibility. And it also allows us to have a repository for our contracts that are outside the state of Texas. That said, when I mentioned bringing it in, it’s bringing in the product. It’s bringing in that certified membership. So, it’s acknowledging that that is part of MD Anderson and what we do, instead of this thing out there.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Out there, right, right.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
And I think it’s been moderately successful. I s—I think there’s still a lot of questions around how do we ensure that we truly differentiate the certified membership and the partner members. I think that we will continue to work on that. I think that’s something that’s just going to take time and attention as we grow.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So is the issue with that really the way that an institution that wants a partnership—how their relationship kind of morphs, and it turns out that their needs may be a little different, or desires may be a little different, as their relationship with MD Anderson evolves. I’m not quite sure of where the slippage is, in the designation.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
Well, they’re very different relationships. So, I don’t know that there’s—the issue is that the certified membership is retrospective. It is not integrated. We do not say that that is the same level of care at MD Anderson. Therefore, it’s very important that we put tight controls around our certified members, so they don’t, perhaps, suggest that to the population. I think that’s the slippage factor.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
It used to be that our certified members were very small community hospitals. Over the years, we’ve had much larger health systems want to participate in that. That’s good, but it also breeds another level of problem, meaning that there are some members in our certified sites that are of a size and significance that they probably would qualify for partner member if they wanted to. Now, on the partner-member side, we have strategically defined where we feel like we need to be. You know, and as I’ve said, I know, a couple of times before, you know, four of six of these in the United States, we have three complete, and we’re already working on two more—they’re very focused on where we need to be, and the criteria for them are very strict. So, that’s something that many organizations can’t, and mostly don’t want to, be part of. And that’s okay, because those we hold very dear, as they hold our name.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Mm-hmm, right. Let’s see. So, you took over as vice president for Business Development. This was in 2012. You were looking puzzled there.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
Yeah.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Am I getting that wrong? [laughter]
Amy Carpenter Hay:
No, no, no. I was just doing the math.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay.
Amy Carpenter Hay:
It’s about three years ago, I guess.
Recommended Citation
Hay, Amy Carpenter and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 15: The Center for Global Oncology Becomes the MD Anderson Cancer Network, Part II" (2015). Interview Chapters. 964.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/964
Conditions Governing Access
Open
