The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, January 11, 2013 - 5
The Michigan Daily michigandailycom Friday, January 11, 2013 - 5
HIGH-RISE
From Page 1
months before residents are
scheduled to move inis "irregu-
lar of the industry."
"Any time we begin a develop-
ment we're extremely sensitive
to the fact that we will have stu-
dents depending on us for their
housing needs," Shinskie said.
"Fortunately, since we've had
a mild winter, we are already
ahead of schedule ... (we have)
ample time to prepare the prop-
ertyfor resident move-in."
Campus Apartments, the
management company, will
equip the building with furni-
ture, gym equipment, televisions
and other finishing touches once
the construction is completed in
June. These features should take
between two and three weeks to
install.
Two months after Landmark
- the new high-rise on South
University Avenue - opened in
September, several promised
amenities were still unavailable.
Residents were given $500 Visa
gift cards or $500 in rent reduc-
tions to as a result.
To assure prospective resi-
dents that a similar situation
won't occur, Campus Apart-
ments is offering the "Varsity
Vow," which promises a $150
rent reduction every month that
amenities are not complete.
Sarah Tatum, Campus Apart-
ments regional sales and training
specialist, said she is planning to
avoid chaos on move-in day by
assigning residents staggered
move-in dates. She added that a
staff of extra managers, cleaners
and vendors will be. on-site dur-
ing move-in to accommodate any
needs that residents may have.
Shinskie said he plans on giv-
ing small tours to residents who
have already signed leases once
interior finishes are completed
to "give them the comfort that
their building is going to be done
on time."
"We don't ever stop trying
to refine and make our product
better," Shinskie said. "I think
students are going to be really
impressed."
EARLY
From Page 1
associated with a greater vol-
ume of applications, Univer-
sity Provost Philip Hanlon
expressed excitement about
the growing number of appli-
cants in an e-mail interview.
"As application numbers at
some of our peer schools seem
to be decreasing or flattening
out, the continuing applica-
tion increases to Michigan
are very gratifying," Hanlon
wrote. "It affirms our stand-
ing as a really great school
that provides some of the
best-quality and most desir-
able educational opportuni-
ties in the country."
Still, an increase in appli-
cations does not necessarily
equate to a greater yield, which
is the number of students who
accept their admittance and
enroll at the University.
In a September interview,
Hanlon said the class of 2016's
freshman enrollment is the
smallest since 2008. This
decrease occurred in the same
year that the number of total,
applications, including regular
decision applicants, reached a
record high with a 7.5 percent
increase over the previous
year.
Beyond the number of early
action applications received,
officials at the office of Under-
graduate Admissions declined
to release or predict any indica-
tors of the number of deferrals
from this year or past years.
The office has traditionally
declined to release prelimi-
nary statistics before the next
cycle of admissions.
"We are extremely pleased
with how the 2012-2013 Early
Action process went," Ted
Spencer, Office of Under-
graduate Admissions execu-
tive director and associate vice
provost wrote in a statement.
"Beyond that, it is too early to
analyze the type of trend ques-
tions ... at this point."
While admissions officials
continue to review deferred
decisions, the results are still
sinking in at high schools
like North Farmington High
School, located about 25 miles
from Detroit in Oakland Coun-
ty.
While North Farmington
may not be representative of
overall admissions trends, it
does provide insight into this
year's release of early action
decisions. Last year, 42 stu-
dents from a class of 350
accepted their admittance to
the University.
"There were a number of stu-
dents who were deferred that
surprised us, which just goes to
show that the level of competi-
tion is increasing every year,"
North Farmington counselor
Lynn Maher said.
At North Farmington, many
students were taken aback by
what seemed to be an increase
in deferrals.
"I definitely feel as if more
(students) got deferred than in
any of the past years," Morgan
Kiryakoza, a deferred North
Farmington senior who was
deferred, said. "The reaction
at North was shock. It seemed
to shake the confidence of our
grade asa whole."
As in every admissions cycle,
some students expected the
decision they received.
"I was kind of expecting
deferral," Nick Kipper, a North
Farmington senior, said. "My
ACT score is low for Michigan,
but I have a good GPA and tons
of extracurricular (activities).
Both of my brothers attend-
ed Michigan and were also
deferred before their admit-
tance."
Despite deferred decisions,
many students continue to hold
out hope for acceptances when
final decisions are released in
early April.
And for these deferred stu-
dents, as well as their counter-
parts across the country, the
waiting game will continue.
LECTURER
From Page 1
with him at its center."
Daida's research focused on
the theory and application of
computational intelligence sup-
porting open-ended problem
solving, discovery and innova-
tion. His research is also appli-
cable to earth and space sciences
and genetic programming.
He earned the- Engineering's
Teaching Excellence Award in
2004, the Best Paper Award in
Genetic Programming from the
Genetic and Evolutionary Com-
putation Conference in 2003
and the Coca-Cola Foundation
Faculty Recognition Award in
1999.
A founding editorial mem-
ber of the Journal of Genetic
Programming and Evolvable
Machines, . Daida contributed
extensively in the latter field.
The journal includes reports
and papers related to hardware
implementations, artificial life,
molecular computing and emer-
gent computation techniques.
Daida graduated with a Ph.D.
in Electrical Engineering from
Stanford University in 1992,
where he worked as a research
assistant from 1990 to 1991. In
1991, he worked as an adjunct
assistant professor at the Uni-
versity, where he became a lec-
turer and associate research
scientist in 2000.
Diada also reached out to
students on a eional level.
Engineering s more Aditya
Chintalapati, wrole in a state-
ment that ding his first
Thanksgiving 4#' the. United
States, the Diada family opened
their home to students alone for
the holiday and helped famil-
iarize them with an American
tradition. Chintalapati recount-
ed how he and two other stu-
dents. felt completely at home
with their professor discussing
everything from coursework
to Daida's own college experi-
ences.
"We were homesick, and
eating a meal with a fam-
ily (although you knew it wasn't
your family the Daidas made us
feel like we were one of their
own) felt incredibly comfort,
ing," Chintalapati wrote.
Daida consistently chal-
lenged and inspired his students
through unorthodox teaching
methods. Chintalapati high-
lighted Diada's lecture on the
many ways the world could end,
at the end of which he presented
solutions and a challenge for
his engineering students to use
their skills to prevent the apoca-
lypse.
"He then made us stand up,
put our hand on our chest and
repeat a bunch of lines - basi-
cally (making us pledge) to be
problem solvers and dream
makers," Chintalapati wrote.
"He was committed to making a
difference and the world needs
more people like him."
Egypt names a new central
bank governor
President chooses
new leader in wake
of economic troubles
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's presi-
dent on Thursday named a new
head for the country's central
bank, after the resignation of
the longtime chief amid a crip-
pling economic crisis and pound
devaluation.
Hesham Ramez, an execu-
tive from one of Egypt's larg-
est private banks, will replace
Farouq el-Oqdah, who has been
the bank's governor for nine
years, according to presidential
spokesman Yasser Ali. .
El-Oqdah and Ramez sought
on Thursday to reassure mar-
kets, investors and Egyptians
over the handover of a key post
at a deeply uncertain time. The
central bank says Egypt's for-
eign currency reserves have hit
a "critical minimum level" after
being drained by more than half
over the past two years to around
$15 billion. Revenues from tour-
ism and foreign investment have
tumbled amid the unrest since
the uprising that toppled Presi-
dent Hosni Mubarak, even as
the government has had to bleed
hard currency to prop up the
Egyptian pound, keep up with
debt payments and buy vital
imports.
At the same time, the gov-
ernment of Islamist President
Mohammed Morsi tried to put
together a plan for halting the
economic slide, which is likely
to include the reduction of some
vital subsidies on foodstuff and
fuel that Egypt's poor rely on.
"We had a difficult two
years," el-Oqdah said, appear-
ing Thursday with Ramez at the
presidential palace. "Despite
that, the economy is tenacious.
We have problems no doubt, but
we have what it takes to get out."
El-Oqdah has made clear for
the past year that he wanted to
step down, but there were wide-
spread concerns that his depar-
ture could further unsettle the
economy. Egypt is negotiating a
critical $4.8 billion loan from the
International Monetary Fund,
already delayed because of the
political tension. A report of his
resignation last month rattled
markets briefly until it was
announced he was staying on.,
El-Oqdah said the solution
of the economic problems lies
in resolving political disputes
which have further hit investor
confidence in the economy. The
country has been deeply divided
since a political dispute over the
recently adopted constitution
spiraled into street protests and
violence.
He said the worry now was not
the value ofthe pound since asys-
tem is in place to regulate it. The
bank recently shired auctioning
dollars to coat "the drain of
the dollar in ktet because
of hoarding a , eculation. In
only a few weeks, the pound fell
to around 6.5'to the dollar down
from 6.1 in December.
"The last thing I need to worry
about is the exchange rate," he
said. The chief concern now is
to increase revenues to cover
increasing budget and trade defi-
cit and bring in foreign invest-
ment.
Ramez, who previously was
the central bank's deputy gov-
ernor for foreign reserve and
monetary policies, said the bank
has "all the tools to intervene
if we think there is speculation
or against the market. What we
care about isto make it a natural
balanced market."
"I would like to reassure you.
There is nothing to make us
worry because we look at the
prices momentarily and daily. It
is not out of control. We will be
able to control it."
Some in the political party of
the Muslim Brotherhood, from
which Morsi hails, have sug-
gested el-Oqdah was to blame
for mismanaging the country's
reserves. There have been hints
of tension between the bank
head and Morsi's administra-
tion, which came into office in
June.
But on Thursday, el-Oqdah
said his resignation was not
from political reasons but in line
with the newly passed constitu-
tion that limit terms of public
office. Trying to sound a further
note of reassurance, he referred
to Ramez as his "student."
Ramez has been vice chair-
man and managing director of
the Commercial International
Bank since 2011, and has been
on the board of several banks.
He is expected to start in the
governor's post in February
after his nomination is formally
approved by the upper house of
parliament.
MALPRACTICE
From Page 1
chief medical officer Darrell
Campbell, based on three cen-
tral principles: compensating
patients quickly and fairly when
unreasonable care caused injury,
supporting clinical staff when
the treatment was sensible or
did not negatively impact the
clinical outcome, and reducing
patient injuries by learning from
patients' experiences.
Rick Boothman, executive
director of clinical safety and co-
author of "The Michigan Model,"
observed issues with malprac-
tice lawsuits as a trial lawyer for
more than 20 years before devel-
oping the new approach.
"One, there was a lot of unnec-
essary litigation that occurred
because people simply didn't talk
to each other," Boothman said.
"But more importantly, two, I
felt that the process of litigation
got in the way of patient safety
improvements."
The development of this new
approach to malpractice dramat-
ically changed the way suits are
handled, accordingto Campbell.
"We were trying to improve
the culture of the hospital by
advocating for openness and
honesty," Campbell said. "Rick
(Boothman) was able to put in
place a mechanism that would
take the big picture goals for this
institution into a-legal environ-
ment and it has worked beauti-
fully."
Although the approach was
developed to decrease malprac-
tice claims, the true efforts were
aimed at medical care.
"But the real goal was not
necessarily to lower our medical
malpractice claims numbers, the
real goal was to improve patient
safety," Boothman said.
The authors of the article in
Milbank Quarterly, researchers
from Harvard Medical School
and the Massachusetts Medical
Society, view the University's
strategy as promising and advan-
tageous for the state. The article
included 37 physician interviews,
which unanimously said "The
Michigan Model," better known
as the DA&O model, has a pos-
sibility of improving medical
liability and patient safety.
Campbell added that he sees
honesty as the underlying suc-
cess of the strategy.
"Honesty and transparency
- that is the main principle,"
Campbell said. "If the people that
you're talking with think you're
being honest, you can solve a lot
of problems."
Basing the model around the
principles of honesty has been a
dramatic change in the culture of
malpractice lawsuits.
"Honesty and transparency
was revolutionary at the time
because most lawyers, like me,
were telling doctors 'for God's
sakes, don't talk about things'
for fear that a stray comment
would somehow compromise
our defense in court," Boothman
said.
Since changing from a deny-
and-defend approach to the
DA&O model, malpractice claims
per month and total liability
costs have decreased, claims are
resolved faster and UMHS has
made a habit of avoiding litiga-
tion.
Despite doubts and predic-
tions of increased malpractice
suits, "The Michigan Model" has
silenced the nonbelievers.
"Everybody said when we
started doing this, 'Oh my god
the floodgates are going to open
up and you are going to be inun-
dated with lawsuits,' because
we're honest," Campbell said.
"That didn't happen. In fact, it's
the opposite."
The DA&O model not only
avoids litigation and decreas-
es the number of malpractice
claims, but it is also a useful
tool for identifying problems in
patient care, according to Booth-
man.
"The transparency and hon-
esty has opened the door and
opened our eyes to pockets of
problems," Boothman said. "So
right now we can target spe-
cific areas that are dangerous.
For instance, we know that the
culture in the operating room,
which tends to be very hierarchi-
cal, is dangerous because nurses-
that do not feel comfortable
speaking up to surgeons can lead
to bad things."
In 2010, after DA&O was fully
implemented within UMHS,
the average monthly rate of new
claims decreased from 7.03 to
4.52 for every 100,000 patients
seen, according to the Annals of
Internal Medicine.
According to the Journal of
Health and Life Sciences Law,
the number of new claims in 1999
was 136 and the number of new
claims decreased by 2006 to 61.
This modelwas also praised by
the Annals of Internal Medicine
in 2010 and the Journal of Health
and Life Sciences Law in 2009. It
was featured in the American
College of Healthcare Execu-
tives' publication, the Frontiers
of Health Services Management,
in 2012.
On Dec. 13, 2012, Campbell
and Boothman presented DA&O
to the University's Board of
Regents as a feasible option for
hospitals throughout the coun-
try.
The full version of DA&O
received additional research
grants from the Agency of
Healthcare Research and Quali-
ty to study the effect of the model
as a principal response system
for malpractice crises.
"We've been trying to under-
stand whether it's portable to
other places or not," Campbell
said. "We have our own malprac-
tice insurance and that makes it
easier. People wonder if it's only
applicable to groups who have
their own insurer, or is it just a
function of Boothman's success
as a leader."
Legislation and research
efforts have also been launched
in New York, Illinois, Washing-
ton, Massachusetts, Oregon and
Florida based on "The Michigan
Model."
DA&O has shifted the focus of
medicine from the physicians to
patients, according to Boothman.
"We have recognized that
medicine for generations has
been physician-centric. Even
though we are treating patients,
the whole system is built around
more the convenience of the phy-
sician than the interests of the
patients," Boothman said. "This
experience has caused us, now
going forward,.to work hard on
becoming patient-centered."
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UMHS
From Page 1
among 106 organizations across
the country named ACOs Thurs-
day.
Jonathan Blum, deputy
administrator and director of
the Center for Medicare, said in a
conference call thatthis program
is a prelude to the eventual status
of health care as a whole.
"We feel this program is
not only our future but really
the future 'of health care, and
that is really as we are chang-
ing towards value-based health
care," Blum said.
At a press conference, not-
ing that the program is specifi-
cally targeted to improve care for
particularly susceptible patient
groups. .
"Our mission is ... really about
improving the quality of care -
especially for vulnerable and at
risk populations," Blum said.
David Spahlinger, associ-
ate dean for clinical affairs, will
be leading POM, according to
UMHS. According to a study
in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, POM's
forerunner group saved Medi-
care $22 million between 2005
and 2010. The overall savings
averaged $2,499 per patient.
"Their focus on transition
calls, needs assessment for ongo-
ing care management, develop-
ment of comprehensive care
plans, integration with primary
care sites and medication rec-
onciliation played a role in the
resource reductions of this vul-
nerable population," Spahlinger
said in a Sept. 2012 statement.
"We know that quality improved
in addition to our cost reduc-
tions, making this a double win
for patients and the agencies that
provide their coverage."
U.S. Secretary of Health and
Human Services Kathleen Sebe-
lius was one of the speakers on
Thursday's conference call.
"Accountable Care Organiza-
tions save money for Medicare
and deliver higher-quality care
to people with Medicare," Sebe-
lius said. "Thanks to the Afford-
able Care Act, more doctors and
hospitals are working together
to give people with Medicare the
high-quality care they expect
and deserve."
Blum said it's "too early for us
to talk about results" but is opti-
mistic about the success of ear-
lier ACO programs.