U ousts high-ranking doctor from VP position after Fairview clash

Days after harshly criticizing a deal between Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota’s doctors, U administrators have fired the CEO of the doctors group that negotiated the contract.

In an email to colleagues obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune, Dr. Greg Beilman said the U President’s Office “relieved me of my interim duties as the University’s Vice President for Clinical Operations, effective immediately.”

Beilman retains his separate role as interim CEO of the physicians group, known as University of Minnesota Physicians (UMP). UMP spokesman Connor Myhre confirmed Beilman will also continue in his roles with the U Medical School as a professor, chair of surgical research and as critical care and trauma surgeon.

Multiple people familiar with the matter characterized Beilman’s VP dismissal as retaliation. They described growing tension between UMP and university administrators, including U President Dr. Rebecca Cunningham, who appointed Beilman to the vice president role earlier this year.

The leadership change is the latest development in a contentious dispute between the U and its doctors group over a new clinical partnership with Fairview Health Services — an agreement that promises financial stability for physicians but has drawn sharp criticism from university leaders who say they were cut out of the negotiations.

One university staff member described the news of the past week and the public feuding as surprising, and said they were hoping to learn more during a department faculty meeting later this week.

“I think stunned might be the best word to describe the general feeling,” the source said.

Reached Tuesday, Ellison’s office had complimentary words for Beilman:

“In every conversation I have had with Dr. Greg Beilman, a military veteran and renowned trauma surgeon, he is focused on patients and the physicians who treat them,” Ellison’s statement said. “He contributed greatly to these past few months of negotiations. ... I once again ask the University to move forward in these negotiations for the good of their patients, their physicians, and the medical school, rather than taking these kind of actions.”

In a statement Tuesday, the U said the removal stems directly from the Board of Regents’ Nov. 13 resolution directing administrators to address “concerns resulting from the recent actions of M Physicians leadership.”

The U said the changes “will help ensure the integrity of ongoing negotiations between the University, M Physicians and Fairview Health Services.”

Beilman’s email to colleagues at UMP on Monday said the agreement is one of roughly 270 clinical arrangements the doctors group maintains across the state and the Upper Midwest.

“This agreement will materialize in continued support of our clinical faculty’s protected academic time for pursuits like teaching and research,” Beilman wrote. “These teaching and research activities will also remain under the purview of the Medical School and your academic leadership, where they rightfully belong. Nothing changes here except for the clinical and financial stability we can now provide.”

Beilman added that the practice’s revenue support for the Medical School — representing more than half its annual budget — will remain steady, with potential for increases “based on our analyses.”