UA notebook

Bookstore adviser sought after audit

FAYETTEVILLE — After an audit showing financial losses for the campus bookstore at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, the university plans to hire a consultant to help guide future operations, UA’s top finance official said.

A planned audit by the University of Arkansas System made public Friday showed net losses in recent years.

For the 12- month period ending June 30, 2016, the most recent year included in the report, the bookstore had revenue of about $12.6 million but a net loss of $314,375, according to the report.

The report also noted inventory “shrinkage,” which totaled $193,652.

Tim O’Donnell, UA’s vice chancellor for finance and administration, said a request for proposals will be published to hire a consultant, adding that a goal is also “to sell books as cheap as we can to the students.” He said a majority of schools in the Southeastern Conference “outsource” their bookstores to have a third-party company handle operations, unlike at UA.

UA will buy lots to aid art, design

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas board of trustees on Friday approved a purchase by the Fayetteville campus for land to expand its Art and Design District.

UA-Fayetteville this spring opened a two-level sculpture studio away from the main campus. The building includes fabrication equipment as well as classrooms.

The university has made an offer of $520,000 for two lots with rental houses and a vacant lot, all south of Martin Luther King Boulevard, according to documents presented to trustees.

Trustees plan input on Little Rock games

FAYETTEVILLE — The 10-person University of Arkansas board of trustees will weigh in on whether UA-Fayetteville football games will continue to be played in Little Rock, said Donald Bobbitt, president of the UA System.

But speaking Friday at a meeting of the board, he did not put a timetable on the decision.

Bobbitt said he expects to receive a recommendation from UA-Fayetteville Chancellor Joe Steinmetz and Jeff Long, the university’s athletic director. He also said that more analysis is needed.

“It’s our thought that a recommendation would come from Chancellor Steinmetz and Vice Chancellor Long, and I would bring that to the board at a later date,” Bobbitt said.

UAMS treatment ventures approved

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas board of trustees on Friday approved two new patient treatment ventures involving the UA system’s medical campus.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will join with insurance provider Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Baptist Health, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital to form an entity seeking to provide treatment for behavioral health patients and assist people with developmental disabilities.

The entities will work together as part of what’s known as a Provider-Owned Arkansas Shared Savings Entity, a new type of organization formed under a recently enacted state law, Act 775. Such entities are designed to better manage Medicaid costs, according to documents provided to the board.

The board also approved the possible formation of what’s known as an Accountable Care Organization involving UAMS and Baptist Health. Documents presented to the board described such an organization as a way to coordinate services in a new Medicare payment model.