UAMS Steps Up its Support of Primary Care by Creating a Service Line (and I have a new Job)

UAMS has initiated a Primary Care Service Line and I have accepted their offer to lead it. It is an exciting time for us and for me personally, after over 25 years in my current job as Executive Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs. Here is a copy of the announcement that went out yesterday: Dear Colleagues: We are pleased to announce that Charles W. Smith, M.D., has accepted our offer to be the Director of the Primary Care Service Line. In addition, he will also serve as the Medical Director of the Service Line. Due to the opening of our new distributed clinics, we are accelerating the startup of the Primary Care Service Line in order to adequately support these clinics. Eventually, all primary care services sponsored and supported by UAMS will be a part of the service line. As founder of the UAMS Center for Primary Care, Dr. Smith has been focusing increasingly on this vital component of our clinical enterprise in the past few years. In his new post, he will oversee planning, development, and implementation of the service line, which includes working with the Chairs of the various primary care oriented departments, recruiting and appointing the administrator of the service line as well as the clinic directors, serving as a member of the Council of Service Line Directors, and numerous other service line duties. In his new role, he will report through the Chief Service Line Officer to Dr. Townsend, the Vice Chancellor for Clinical Programs. Dr. Smith is ideally suited for this new role. He has worked in various roles to promote clinical programs and clinical teaching in the College of Medicine and UAMS for the past 25 years. He joined the faculty as a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs in 1989 and was promoted to Executive Dean in 2007. For a number of years, he served in both Associate Dean role and the UAMS Medical Center Medical Director roles. While he will begin service line duties immediately, he will gradually transition out of his current role as Executive Associate Dean by the end of this calendar year. Among many accomplishments, Dr. Smith established the Physician Relations Office to improve processes for referrals and communication with referring physicians. A key component of the office is the UAMS Associates Program, which coordinates annual visits by staff liaisons to 750 referring physicians in Arkansas to provide information and hear and relay their concerns to campus leadership. Dr. Smith also founded the Diagnostic Clinic for referrals. Dr. Smith’s dedication to providing more effective health care for Arkansans kindled his longtime interest in electronic medical record (EMR) implementation and facilitating the use of web technology. He chaired the implementation committee for the campus’ first EMR system and has remained an active leader in EMR adoption, including the comprehensive EPIC system. Dr. Smith has been a leader in the development of a patient portal, online physician consultation and online call schedules. In 1997 he founded an award-winning, web-based medical information company, eDocAmerica, a UAMS BioVentures-supported startup that provides patients with tools, information and input from medical professionals to help individuals make better decisions about their health and health care. Dr. Smith is a founding Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Participatory Medicine, an online, peer-reviewed journal of the Society of Participatory Medicine. He has served as President of the American Board of Family Medicine, Deputy Editor of American Family Physician, and Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Faculty Practice. He has published many articles in his field and co-authored a book, the Handbook of Family Practice. Prior to his recruitment to UAMS, Dr. Smith was Dean of the School of Primary Medical Care at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Huntsville. He received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he completed his family practice residency. Please join us in welcoming Charlie to his new post. G. Richard Smith, M.D. Roxane A. Townsend, M.D. Dean, College of Medicine Vice Chancellor for Clinical Programs Executive Vice Chancellor, UAMS CEO, UAMS Medical Center