The salary responsibility program for full-time faculty members in an academic clinical department

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Care Administration
• Faculty Compensation Models

Background:

• The Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine faced challenges with faculty compensation responsibility.
• A need existed to encourage faculty to actively contribute to their own salary support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a system for faculty to assume greater responsibility for their compensation.
• To track faculty time allocation between assigned duties and unassigned activities (research/practice).

Main Methods:

• Development of a "scorecard" system to document faculty hours spent on assigned duties (teaching, attending, consulting) and unassigned time (research, personal practice).
• Individual interviews conducted by administrative staff to complete scorecards with faculty members.
• Implementation of salary reductions for faculty unable to meet compensation responsibilities, effective July 1, 1996.

Main Results:

• Projected departmental savings of $110,362 during the 1996-97 academic year from withheld compensation.
• Some faculty members left the department due to expected income reductions.
• The program stimulated increased faculty effort in developing salary support.

Conclusions:

• The implemented system successfully encouraged faculty to take greater responsibility for their compensation.
• The initiative led to significant cost savings for the department.
• Faculty engagement in securing salary support was positively influenced by the program.