ROHN BUTTERFIELD, MBA
Instructor in Health Services
| Office: | Health Professions Center, Room 2130 |
| Phone: | 465-7036 |
| eMail: | rbutterf@usi.edu or rohnb@insightbb.com |
| Resume | http://health.usi.edu/faculty/resumerjb.html |
What You'll Find On This Page
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Personal Bits | |
Academic Areas of Interest | |
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Educational Background | |
Professional Background | |
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Other Activities | |
Honors & Awards | |
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Publications | |
See Me. . . |
Life has been a miracle, or rather a series of them. At times, I’ve called it ‘dumb luck’ or ‘a simple twist of fate’ or ‘divine providence’, depending on the particular stage of my life. But it has all been miraculous nevertheless...
It occurs to me that miracles - be they good, bad, or ugly - are simply opportunities to learn, to grow, and to appreciate each other and the absolute spectacle of life. A lot like college, no?
Oh yes, I like to read, sleep through the second half of football games, love up on our small doggy, generally eat more than I should, philosophize to the point of distraction, joke around, listen to music of all kinds, explore the internet, and drool over new electronic gadgets. I need to exercise more, eat better, and yearn to write the Great American Novel. I am an easy-going, yet passionate person, with a great appreciation for the endless variety of humankind.
Academic
Areas of Interest
I am interested in issues related to health care financing, systems approaches to organizing care delivery nationally, ethics, hospital operations, strategic management, and the nature of leadership. I assisted the Health Services Program Director, Carol Hermes, with the development of a strategic plan, articulation agreements with other colleges, curriculum revisions, and the startup of a Master of Health Administration Program in the fall of 2001..
Here are the courses I teach:
All courses reside on the internet for the convenience of students. Course materials are delivered using Blackboard course management software. Feel free to browse my currently offered courses by clicking HERE, then on the Preview button, then on the Courses tab at the top, then on Nursing and Health Professions, then on Health Services. (WHEW!) I routinely post announcements, syllabi and calendars, among other things in this Preview area. Electronic delivery of coursework is especially helpful for those who are working toward a degree while maintaining significant family and/or work obligations. The Master's program is also designed with this same student convenience in mind.
Advising is one of the most gratifying parts of my responsibilities. Being snoopy anyway, I enjoy hearing of your unique talents and backgrounds. My goals are to help you explore your future employment options. I will also do my very best to guide you through the four-year curriculum in as expeditious and interesting a manner as possible, paying close attention to your specific needs, experience, and educational background.
As much as possible, I want to accommodate each student’s schedule. You are encouraged to call, email, or otherwise get my attention to set up an appointment that is convenient for you. I particularly like to see students for advising during the two weeks before each pre-registration period. With over 200 persons majoring in Health Services, this head start is as much a necessity as it is a convenience for you. With the addition of two new faculty in the fall of 2001, though, the advising load has become much more reasonable, thus allowing us to spend more time with each student.
Please click here for more detail about the Bachelor’s Degree in Health Services program.
Master of Business Administration (Dean’s List), The Graduate School of Business, The University of Chicago, Illinois 1980. Specialization in Hospital Administration and Concentration in Finance.
Graduate work in Business (Health Services Management) at the Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California (1976-1977).
Graduate work in Sociology at the State University of California, San Francisco and the State University of California, Hayward (1972-1975).
Bachelor of Arts, University of California at Los Angeles, California 1969. Major in Political Science.
North Hollywood High School, North Hollywood, California 1965. College Preparatory -- Science. Gold Seal Bearer (state honor society), Senior Class President, football, track, and all-around annoying guy.
While just a pup, I was employed at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), starting as a medical records clerk in 1972, and working my way to Hospital Planning Assistant, prior to going off to grad school in Chicago in 1978. On graduation, I was hired as an Assistant Hospital Director at the University of Nebraska Hospital and Clinic by a former UCSF administrative intern, now employed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Nebraska. I was initially responsible for a mix of ten support and professional departments. With the help of my new mentor, I learned a great deal about academic medical center politics, the ins and outs of a variety of hospital departments, the difference between management and leadership, and the ethical principles that remain with me to this day.
When the mentor left Nebraska to become CEO at the University of West Virginia Medical Center (and later garnering the Young Administrator of the Year Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives for his work there), he asked me to accompany him as his planning vice president. At the same time, I was also offered a promotion to Associate Hospital Director for Ambulatory Care at Nebraska. Wanting to establish more of my own administrative personality, I stayed on at Nebraska.
While responsible for ambulatory care, I set up, in conjunction with a for profit firm from Minneapolis, the first HMO in Nebraska in 1983. I organized the provider side of the equation, using the Family Medicine Department as the initial gatekeeper group and establishing several satellite practices in the suburbs of Omaha. I also transitioned the entire outpatient clinics operation from hospital to physician management and financing. Other fun stuff included building and staffing a new freestanding same day surgery center with an attached guest hotel; starting eating disorders, stress testing and geriatrics clinics; and initiating a home health care service. I think I enjoyed this job most of all, as some of the things we did were way ahead of their time and they were in an area of health care (outpatient care) that would later explode in growth. I also learned a great deal about physician relations. While at Nebraska, I also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the undergraduate health administration program.
In 1987, I again joined my mentor friend at the University of Cincinnati Hospital (now University Hospital), this time as his COO. After only my first week on the job, we determined that, to survive, we would have to drastically reduce expenses in order to prevent this very large ship from going under. This involved an immediate reduction of over 400 positions, or about 300 FTE. This was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do. While I ended up doing a lot of other things at Cincinnati, like participating in cultural diversity training, introducing TQM, enhancing support service quality, negotiating four union contracts, and building some satellite practices in support of the university-sponsored HMO, I spent most of my years rebuilding employees’ faith in the future.
Toward the end of my Cincinnati years, in 1991, I was fortunate enough to be part of a group of US administrators invited to the King’s Fund College in England to confer with British officials about the differences and similarities between the two health care systems. The College is not a college as we normally think about them, but a 'think tank' for health care, supported by a National Trust established by one of the several King George's (the III, I think). The British specifically wished to know how the entrepreneurial patient-centered aspects of American health care could be translated to their monolithic social medicine system. The Americans, in turn, wanted to know how to become a more cost-effective and organized system. While we obviously did not solve any of these vexing problems - just look around you! - I experienced some exquisite international cuisine and toured London, Oxford, Bath and the Cotswolds.
As our daughter, Nicole, grew older, there was a desire to move closer to her grandparents so that she could be properly spoiled before she got too old. This led us to the South in 1992, to Monroe, Louisiana. While there, I served as Senior Vice President and Medical Staff Liaison of a large 450-bed community hospital for two years. This was a disaster. War stories aside, within nine months after I arrived, the CEO, the Executive Vice President, and the CFO were fired for ‘irregularities’. I stuck around to clean up the resulting mess and left ASAP to become CEO at a smaller community hospital in northeastern Mississippi
By the way, the Monroe, LA hospital's troubles have been documented as a case study chapter in a book called The Great White Lie. The chapter, entitled 'Candy from Strangers' immediately pre-dated my tenure. Read it and the book (I know I should have!). It was authored by a Pulitzer-prize winning writer for The Wall Street Journal, so it is informed, fast-paced reading and the stories he tells illustrate just how perverse a well-intentioned industry can get. Like science fiction, but oh so true...
The hospital in northeastern Mississippi was also in deep trouble, again caused by ‘irregularities’ that had resulted in the near bankruptcy of the organization. After some major surgery, enhanced by my experience in Monroe no doubt, we turned around the fortunes of the hospital. A few more war stories ensued, however, and I decided to leave with an admittedly unpleasant taste in my mouth for a profession I once cherished.
Realizing that I was probably in need of some perspective, I
consulted
for some months, more to air out my mind and emotions than to earn a
living.
Then the USI teaching opportunity came along and it was the perfect
answer.
A chance to return to academia, a perception that I might be able to
slow
the pace of life a tad, a chance to have a real effect on the future of
health care leaders, a chance to recharge my batteries. So far so good,
except for that slowing down thing. Some habits die hard...
Butterfield RJ, editor, Proceedings of the Governance Seminar, Consortium for the Study of University Hospitals, Phoenix, Arizona, January 1981.
Fine DJ, Butterfield RJ, and Doheny JE: Budgeting, Capital Decision Making and Rate Setting. In Larsen and Snyder: Administration and Supervision in Laboratory Medicine, pp. 459-487, Harper and Row, 1983.
Fine DJ, Doheny JE, and Butterfield RJ: Introduction to Laboratory Financial Management. In Larsen and Snyder: Administration and Supervision in Laboratory Medicine, pp. 443-458, Harper and Row, 1983.
Weisenburger DD, M.D., Markin RS, M.D., Ph.D., Langdon SM, M.T., Page JA, Winsten D, and Butterfield RJ: Financial Justification of a Laboratory Information System (abstract). In American Journal of Clinical Pathology, March 1987, p. 420.
Fine DJ, Butterfield RJ, and Doheny JE: Basic Elements of Laboratory Financial Management. In Snyder and Senhauser: Administration and Supervision in Laboratory Medicine, Second Edition, pp. 403-416, J.B. Lippincott, 1989.
Fine DJ, Butterfield RJ, and Doheny JE: Budgeting Laboratory Financial Resources. In Snyder and Senhauser: Administration and Supervision in Laboratory Medicine, Second Edition, pp. 417-438, J.B. Lippincott, 1989.
Fine DJ and Butterfield RJ: Financial Planning and Management. In Taylor RJ and Taylor SB: The AUPHA Manual of Health Services Management, pp. 283-310, Aspen Publishers, Inc., 1994.
Fine DJ, Salmon BC, Butterfield RJ, and Doheny JE: Budgeting Laboratory Resources. In Snyder and Wilkinson: Management in Laboratory Medicine, Third Edition, pp. 473-492, Lippincott-Raven, 1998.
Fine DJ, Salmon BC, Butterfield RJ, and Doheny JE: Introduction to Laboratory Financial Management. In Snyder and Wilkinson: Management in Laboratory Medicine, Third Edition, pp. 459-471, Lippincott-Raven, 1998.
Other Activities
Member,
Alumni Council, University of Chicago Graduate Program in Health
Administration and Policy, 2002-present
Member,
Economic
Benefits Committee, USI, 2001-present
Chair,
SHNP Student
Housing Program Committee, School of Nursing and Health Professions,
2000-2002
Master
Teacher,
Academy for Instructional Excellence, Ivy Tech State College, 2000-2001
Member, Extended
Services
Faculty Advisory Committee, USI, 1999-present
Advising
Fellow,
University Division, USI, 1999-2000
Member,
Learning
Caring Community Committee, School of Nursing and Health Professions,
USI,
1998-present
Member,
Committee
on Legislation, Mississippi Hospital Association, 1995-97
Executive Committee
Member,
Mississippi Foundation for Medical Care (PSRO), 1996-97
Board Member,
Mississippi
Foundation for Medical Care, 1995-97
Executive Committee
Member,
The Alliance (City of Corinth and Alcorn County [MS] Chamber of
Commerce),
1996-97
Chair, Community
Development
Committee, The Alliance, 1996-97
Board Member, The
Alliance,
1994-97
Board Member, United
Way
of Corinth and Alcorn County, 1994-97
Diplomate
(Recertified),
American College of Healthcare Executives, 1983-2003
Member, Rotary Club
(Omaha,
Cincinnati, Monroe [LA], and Corinth [MS]), 1982-1997
Member, Sub-Area
Advisory
Council, San Francisco Health Service Agency, 1975-77
Commendation from
Board
of Directors, The Alliance (MS), for turnaround of hospital, 1997
3rd
Place, Showmanship,
Monroe (LA) Chili Cook-off, 1991
If you would like more information about the University of Southern Indiana Bachelor of Science in Health Services degree...
If you are working toward completion of, or have completed, an Associate Degree and want to know how your current credits would apply to the Bachelor’s Degree requirements...
If you are a health care professional who received your clinical preparation in a hospital based program, and want to know if you can be granted any credit for that course of study...
If you are interested in recruiting any of the talented graduates of the Program...
If you have a suggestion for a new course for the curriculum...
Or, if you would like to talk about the state of the world, Motown, the Beatles, Sara McLaughlin, ANYTHING football, reality shows (yes, I know...a guilty pleasure), NYPD, Macintosh computers, sociology, or anything healthcare.
