Addressing For Profit Status

A Message from the Chief Academic Officer and Dean:

As the Chief Academic Officer of Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM), I would like to take a few moments to discuss commitments made to faculty, staff and future students as well as document some of the actions that RVUCOM has taken to honor them. 

I hope my comments will demonstrate that the actions we have taken along with the plans we have in place support our commitment to academic excellence, the professional growth of our students and faculty and the advancement of the Osteopathic profession.  I hope that you will come to be convinced, as did I, that while the organization has adopted a different tax status, it honors the personal commitments made by myself and other members of our Board of Trustees and faculty to our personal educational, service and osteopathic philosophies.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine was conceived to fulfill a simple goal; to make a difference in the lives of those it touches. 

We will fulfill this goal by providing an increased opportunity for students to obtain an osteopathic medical education, with an emphasis on those underrepresented in Colorado and the Mountain West region, and by helping to meet the current and future health care needs of the State and region through improved access to quality health care.  In pursuing these goals, we join with our colleagues at other colleges of osteopathic and allopathic medicine.

Rocky Vista University and Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine are for-profit institutions, registered with the Secretary of State as limited liability companies in Colorado.  Both were financed and are wholly owned by Mr. Yife Tien and his wife.  They are not publicly traded organizations and stock is not for sale on any exchange.  The administration, faculty and staff are contracted employees; none may participate in any equity position with the college, the same condition as found at other osteopathic colleges of medicine.

The university and college are operated by an uncompensated, dedicated, volunteer Board of Trustees that is composed of seven members, five of whom are Osteopathic Physicians, including Mary Burnett, D.O., Thomas Moore, D.O., Joel Cooperman, D.O., Bruce Kaplan, D.O. and Ian Levenson, D.O., the Chairperson of the Board.  Other members include Kent Stevenson and D. Robert Black, J.D.

The college is not a branch of nor does it have any affiliation with the American University of the Caribbean (AUC), an allopathic institution that is guided by an independent governing board.

Mr. Yife Tien, does not own AUC, which was established and is owned by his father, Paul Tien, PhD.  Yife Tien has contributed significant expertise to AUC for more than 20 years in addition to contributions to multiple other enterprises owned and operated by either himself and/or his family in Florida.

The university and college, through extensive due diligence and investigation, which included the use of consultants with extensive histories in and commitments to the osteopathic profession, (including past AOA President Mitchell Kasovac), came to recognize the significant need and opportunity for an osteopathic medical college and additional osteopathic physicians in the state of Colorado and the Mountain West Region.  During that investigational time and continuing to the present, the college has maintained communication with, and obtained support from, the Colorado Society of Osteopathic Medicine.

Osteopathic colleges and their branches are individually organized with unique business plans.  Just as the business plan of Rocky Vista University is different from current colleges, each college’s structure can be distinguished from others in important areas.  The business plan utilized by RVUCOM is not unique in this country or the world.  The business model has been employed with success for years by health care institutions in the U.S., including hospitals, medical groups, nursing and pharmacy colleges, and is successful throughout Europe, Asia and the remainder of the world. All colleges and universities are required to operate in an efficient manner and demonstrate fiduciary responsibility if they are to not only survive but fulfill their mission and vision.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine, for all educational, medical and scholarly functions is organized, structured and functions in the same manner its sister colleges of osteopathic medicine.   The university and the college are governed by the Board of Trustees which is responsible for establishing and evaluating the institutions success in meeting its mission and vision, the hiring and evaluation of executive administrative personnel and for establishing and maintaining oversight of the budget for the university and college.

The accreditation standards applied to RVUCOM are not lessened or diminished as a result of RVUCOM’s tax status.  The college is required to meet and has complied with the standards for faculty, facilities, student and public service, educational quality, scholarly activity and professional practice established for all colleges of osteopathic medicine.  As RVUCOM moves forward, close observation and repetitive evaluation by accreditation agencies at the state, regional and national levels will ensure that it will continue to meet the standards and outcome expectations for its students and honor the commitments presented in its mission, vision and value statements.   These standards, established in part by the college’s programmatic accreditation agency, the American Osteopathic Associations Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, are in place to protect and provide confidence for the student and the public. 

The college has been active in recruiting and has invested heavily to obtain the human resources required by its mission, vision and curriculum.  It has sought out and contracted with highly qualified and experienced medical educators, physicians, administrators and staff.  The administrative team and deans hired collectively have a total of more than 175 years of experience in Osteopathic Education.  The current department chairs are either Osteopathic physicians with extensive pre and post doctoral educational experience or PhD’s that have experience at osteopathic colleges prior to joining RVUCOM.  In addition to top-notch faculty members joining us from current osteopathic colleges, professionals trained or currently teaching at institutions including Harvard, Baylor and UCLA have committed to joining our institution as well. 

Mr. Tien and the board of trustees have directed that the college be committed to developing state-of-the- art facilities for its students.  In addition to a modern, new, 145,000 sq. foot educational facility on the campus in Parker, Colorado, the college has invested heavily in technology and educational equipment.  We have designated and equipped a standardized patient lab that is based on the requirements established for the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners as well as the United States Medical Licensing Examination.  We have purchased curriculum management programs, human medical education simulators; computer 3-D graphic dissection capability and pathology and histology programs all of which are designed to provide our students the opportunity to develop knowledge, skills, competencies and confidence. The curriculum is designed to stimulate active learning, utilizing case based learning integrated with system education and providing for early and extensive clinical experiences and outreach opportunities. The auditoriums, laboratories, study and learning areas of the college have been professionally engineered to develop a positive learning environment.

From the time of the college’s conception, the administration has dedicated time and resources to developing quality clinical and graduate medical education opportunities for its students and graduates.  The college has already developed the ability to provide clinical education opportunities for all students within Colorado, following structured curriculum and able to be delivered by professionals credentialed by the college.  Following an “academic healthcare centers without walls” model, similar in concept to the American Osteopathic Associations Osteopathic Post-doctoral Training Institutions (OPTI) concept, the structure has been designed, engineered and is ready for implementation.  Affiliated institutions include, but are not limited to, the HealthOne and Centrua Hospital Systems, with affiliated institutions across all of Colorado.  Other affiliations of note include those developed with Memorial Hospital System in Colorado Springs, Community Hospital in Grand Junction and Parkview Hospital in Pueblo. 

The college developed this extensive network of affiliation agreements with hospitals, community clinics, medical groups and private practitioners to ensure it will meet its commitments to the students and the profession. 

In addition these relationships and community partnerships have opened possibilities for the development of new graduate medical education (GME) positions in a wide variety of disciplines. These opportunities will benefit not only our graduates but osteopathic graduates from across the nation. 

I present to you a thought that is appropriate today and to this discussion:  

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but those most responsive to change”.  Charles Darwin.

It is apparent to all that it is no longer 1909, it is 2007.  The standards and safeguards that exist today were not present in 1909. All of us dedicated to this endeavor are convinced that Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine is the right school, in the right location, at the right time and for the right reasons.  

 

Ronnie B. Martin, D.O., FACOFP-dist
CAO/Dean