Trustees: Hospitals Business, Personnel Matters

TRUSTEES APPROVE AGREEMENT WITH HARDING HOSPITAL, CONDUCT 
PERSONNEL MATTERS

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on 
Friday (2/6) approved an affiliation agreement between the 
university and Harding Hospital Inc.  The board also approved 
rules changes for physicians, renamed a department, made several 
appointments and conducted other business.

Board approves affiliation agreement with Harding Hospital

Trustees authorized The Ohio State University to join forces 
with Harding Hospital Inc. in an affiliation agreement 
consolidating behavioral health services and programs.

The new organization will integrate and oversee all 
strategic, financial, administrative and marketing matters in 
behavioral health formerly conducted by Ohio State and Harding.

The agreement will result in no visible changes for 
patients, physicians, staff or health care providers at either 
facility at this time.

The affiliation agreement is designed to enhance the 
availability and efficiency of the services, and will allow for a 
more comprehensive offering of behavioral health services to the 
community.

Bylaws of the medical staff amended

Trustees approved amendments to the medical staff bylaws 
that will modify requirements for medical staff appointments.  
The changes will provide appointments without the need for 
faculty status to fulfill the teaching and service missions of 
the hospitals.  The bylaws will allow community physicians who do 
not desire Ohio State faculty appointments to participate in the 
clinical activities at University Hospitals.

The goal of the amendments is to balance the needs of the 
hospitals for a broad provider base with the needs of specialty 
faculty physicians who provide the majority of clinical, teaching 
and research within University Hospitals.

Though some requirements are waived, the bylaws do call for 
community affiliate physician applicants to identify categories 
of diagnosis, estimate the extent of patient activity and list 
service areas they will utilize in the hospitals. 

The bylaws also include some technical amendments reflecting 
recognition of new clinical divisions within existing clinical 
departments.  The new medical rules bringing the bylaws into 
compliance with recent accreditation standard changes also are 
included in the amendments.

Department renamed

The board approved changing the name of the Department of 
Agricultural Education to the Department of Human and Community 
Resource Development.  The department is housed in the College of 
Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The renaming results from a restructuring of the college in 
1994, when faculty in the Department of Agricultural Education 
were combined with rural sociology faculty previously housed in 
the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.

The new department addresses two priorities of the college: 
assessing social and economic changes, and developing human 
resources.  The newly named department offers several majors for 
undergraduate and graduate students, including agricultural 
education, agricultural communication and rural sociology.

Appointments

Trustees appointed Christopher M. Culley, assistant attorney 
general and chief of the Education Section of the Ohio Attorney 
General