Dean of medical school says program in place to reduce debt

The University of Nevada School of Medicine expects to collect $2.7 million in accounts receivable over the next four months, which a university administrator expects will substantially reduce its debt.

Dr. David Schapira, senior associate dean with the school, said Tuesday that there is a total of $9 million in accounts receivable. He blames human error in trying to operate a sophisticated computer system with causing the accounting dilemma.

"Collections went from 47 percent to 27 percent because of human error," Schapira said. "We have since gone to a simpler computer system."

Schapira said the figure of $786,000 in debt quoted in media reports Tuesday was given at an April 30 Board of Regents meeting. It was a loss projection at that time for the end of June.

The debt, he said, is currently lower than that amount.

Schapira said the medical school also has reduced its billing staff, saving more than $500,000 in administrative costs.

Schapira, who came to Nevada eight months ago from Louisiana State University in New Orleans, said he encountered and solved similar billing problems there.

"We had 15 faculty members come on (over the course of a year), which probably represented about $2.7 million in annual salaries," Schapira said of the school of medicine. "The problems we experienced here are common across the United States. By this time next year, we will be in the black."

The Board of Regents is scheduled to meet in Reno Thursday and Friday. Members, Schapira said, are expected to give their input into solving the financial problems at the school of medicine.

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