Doug Girod, executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center, said one of the biggest jobs in the near future is streamlining health care between the medical school, KU Hospital, the University of Kansas Physicians, which is the physicians’ practices group, and 18 clinical departments.

Despite challenging fiscal times, Kansas University Medical Center’ rankings are improving.

As both state and federal revenues tighten, the KU School of Medicine earlier this year jumped 15 spots in both primary care and research in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Among 153 public and private universities in the survey, KU’s medical school ranks 22nd in primary care (17th out of 86 public schools); and 60th in research (32nd out of 86 public schools).

The KU School of Health Professionals had four programs in the top 20 and the School of Nursing had three programs in the top 50.

“We’re making good progress on all fronts,” Dr. Doug Girod, executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center. Girod credits “the quality of our people and our work,” for the progress.

“We do have a lot going on and we are dealing with financial pressures on all fronts,” he said. “This is a unique time in medicine.”

In the coming year, officials hope to continue on the long running priority to produce more doctors.

Kansas ranks 39th out of the 50 states in the number of doctors per capita. Eighty-nine of Kansas’ 105 counties have a shortage of primary care providers.

A new building in Kansas City, Kan., and increasing capacity at the medical school’s Wichita campus will be key to increasing the number of doctors in Kansas, Girod says.

Earlier this year, the Legislature approved $25 million in state-backed bonds to help construct a new $75 million health education building. Then in May, the Hall Family Foundation provided a $25 million gift. Ground-breaking for the facility could come as early as this spring.

KU officials say a new building is needed to train more health care professionals and accommodate a modern curriculum. The currently used Orr-Major building, which opened in 1976, has $5.3 million in deferred maintenance and its rooms are designed for large lectures instead of the now preferred small-group classes, according to KU.

Officials also are requesting $2.4 million in additional funding in the next fiscal year and $4.9 million the year after that for the Wichita campus.

And Girod said one of the biggest jobs in the near future at KU Med is one that people won’t even see.

It’s called “clinical integration,” and it means streamlining health care between the medical school, KU Hospital, the University of Kansas Physicians, which is the physicians’ practices group, and 18 clinical departments.

The goal is to reduce duplication of services, promote collaboration and consolidate billing to patients.

“It has been one of the most time-consuming things internally but will be completely invisible externally,” Girod said.

When the effort was announced in 2013, Gov. Sam Brownback got behind it, saying the proposed clinical partnership would be as important to the success of KU Medical Center as was making the hospital independent in 1998.

Girod said he hoped officials would be ready to execute the plan in early 2015.