The other day the Times attempted to get the children’s hospital spokeswoman to do her job and explain the children’s hospital’s view on the recent offer from the county hospital. According to the Times:
“Children’s hospital spokeswoman Susie Byrd said that her contract was set to expire Monday and that Castillo would handle comments regarding dealings with UMC.”
She was still on the payroll, still had a contract, still had a job to do.
What else would we expect?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
I sent the following letter to Gov. Abbott and a similar one to the Health Commissioner asking for the State to intervene in the UMC/EPCH disaster before Valenti blows the $152MM for the clinics, trying to bail out UMC and his reputation and that of the politicos who made this thing happen. The UMC board will probably give him a bonus, anyway, but maybe the stink from this will reach Austin and they will rescue yet another failed El Paso institution. My next letter will ask him to look at San Jacinto Plaza 🙂
Hon. Governor Abbott;
I am writing to ask your assistance. The public hospital district of El Paso is in crisis and needs intervention from the State. It seems we paid for a public El Paso Children’s Hospital (EPCH) with a $120MM bond issue in 2007 and have received neither a real standalone hospital nor a financially viable organization. Each day brings more bad news of how indebted the children’s hospital is to the public hospital, University Medical Center (UMC), yet no one in office is able to explain why EPCH owes so much money to UMC that bankruptcy is threatened. Requests to EPCH for information are stonewalled with the excuse that it is a private institution and not subject to Texas ORR. Yet it was built with public bond money!
At the center of this is Mr. Jim Valenti, the CEO of UMC. Mr. Valenti’s main talent lately is leveraging huge salary and bonuses from UMC’s board while the institution is going into the tank. Over the objections of the medical community, the County Board authorized UMC to issue $152MM in bonds last year to build a network of clinics. The last I heard about this was a remark to the media from Mr. Valenti saying that the bond money may need to be “repurposed.” There is a reason he said this.
I think that EPCH was probably designed to be a slush fund for local politicians, created for their own benefit, except it has backfired on them and now they are looking for scapegoats. Is that why it was set up to not be subject to ORRs? The County Commission is not answering public inquiries made in court about the details of the UMC/EPCH fiasco, all being played out with our tax money.
And as for the $152MM for the UMC clinics? I don’t see clinics being built, either, and now with this EPCH/UMC catastrophe, I understand why Mr. Valenti said the money might have to be “repurposed.” He means to bail out UMC from the disastrous business model it created for EPCH.
Sir, I ask you to use your powers as Governor to intervene in this disaster before our local politicians run yet another El Paso institution into the ground, either by their incompetence or graft, and we are left footing the bill.
Respectfully yours,
Jerry Kurtyka
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Great letter, Jerry. You just forgot to address one very important political point; our community is poor and over 80% Hispanic. Republicans are seeking the Hispanic vote and, although Abbott received over 40% of that vote, they are looking into ways to increase that percentage in future elections. What a better way to score political points than for him to be seen as the solution to this problem in a Hispanic community.
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I didn’t think it worth the time to write to our delegation in Austin. They have little influence in a GOP dominated legislature. Besides, all the players in this are their friends. It would be like asking Jaimie Esparza to investigate the Court or City Council or EPISD. Too compromised.
Which is all too bad, because now is the time for someone to take leadership and make a reputation for them self that others will respect. It was Machiavelli in The Prince who wrote that Fortune favors the bold. Now is the time for someone in office to be bold, not politic.
But don’t hold your breath. They are looking for a place to run to so this doesn’t stick to their reputation. Too bad we can’t pin it on Niland, huh?
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Not working through the end of one’s contract seems to be the norm for people in El Paso government. The former city manager didn’t work through the end of her contract and drew paychecks from both the city and the workforce group for a period of time. One of her deputy city mangers has been on the payroll for months and hasn’t had to lift a finger. It’s all good for some people.
Susie Byrd is also trying to avoid alienating Valenti and some of his friends and supporters, who she might need support from in future elections. Byrd went from city council to simply drawing checks from other another government-funded entity, compliments of her friend Veronica Escobar, who is now supporting Valenti and UMC. Escobar is probably pulling Byrd’s strings on this issue.
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It’s all political cronyism.
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It’s All Good!
Ms. Byrd just received an award for public service….
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It’s funny what passes as “public service” these days.
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Sorry to hear that about Susie. She cannot continue sitting on fences if she expects the public to trust her as a school board member.
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You’re 100% correct, but it wouldn’t hurt to remind Abbott of that fact and insinuate the political advantage of “rescuing” this backwater community. And yes, it would be great to pin it on ALL the local poobahs. Also, these shenanigans are in line with a federal probe since we are talking about Medicare and Medicaid monies being involved.
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This is a local issue and should be solved locally…The outcome has to what is best for the El Paso Children’s Hospital and the El Paso Community….Bankruptcy is the Worst idea so far !
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Actually Bankruptcy is just what we need. We would finally have factual numbers to see.
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I sent a note to my county commissioner asking him to please explain why WPCH had to pay rent to UMC when the taxpayers paid for the building. No reply.
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I wrote to Haggerty, too (below). When you’re new, you have a good chance to make a first impression. Let’s hope he does.
Dear Comm. Haggerty;
Who “owns” El Paso Children’s Hospital? What did our $120MM bond issue buy for us? Why does it owe rent to UMC? Why is it not subject to ORR, since we paid for it thinking we were building a public entity? And why won’t the Commission answer these questions for the public?
Like many of your constituents I am increasingly dismayed and sickened by the slow moving train wreck that is UMC/EPCH. As if Mr. Valente’s egregious compensation and bonuses aren’t enough, we are daily treated to the news that the two separate organizations cannot even reach agreement over our money.
From what I now understand about EPCH, it is a private entity paid for by public funds and not subject to ORR. Is that correct? How did that happen?
It does not own the building we thought we paid for nor much of anything else, it seems, as it has to pay rent to UMC for just about everything. Is that correct? Who designed this business model for EPCH? What did our $120MMM buy for us? Is this Mr. Valenti’s doing, who now positions himself coming to its rescue?
I see this and think that EPCH is an excuse for a slush fund that politicians created for their own benefit, except it backfired on them and now they are looking for scapegoats, probably its board who are guilty of nothing more than being duped into having their reputations ruined.
And what happened to our $155MM for the UMC clinics? I don’t see clinics being built any more than I see the City working on San Jacinto Plaza. Now I understand why Mr. Valenti said the money might have to be “repurposed.” Don’t trust him, Commissioner.
I know you are new to this and have no baggage in it or reputation to save, so please use that advantage to expose this mess and the people responsible for it and get it fixed. As for me, my next letter is to the State. Maybe they can appoint a Board of Managers for UMC and EPCH? It worked for EPISD.
Respectfully your constituent,
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Valenti and UMC were involved in the planning and structure of Children’s hospital from the very beginning.
There are some interesting tidbits in this Valenti letter, apparently issued to employees last Friday as part of UMC’s public relations campaign:
Click to access FridayLetter.pdf
Here is my take, some of which I have said before.
From the beginning, Children’s Hospital was nothing more than a captive revenue stream for UMC. Unlike some would have you believe, the UMC charges to CH and the fee structure are not a function of the Stark law.
I believe this business model as you call it was designed to subsidize UMC and cover up UMC’s own financial shortcomings. I would like to see a truly independent, unbiased audit of UMC charges to Children’s Hospital.
One has to ask why Valenti and the UMC board allowed the Children’s Hospital to run up so much unpaid debt. Valenti said the tab was $50 million when CH stopped paying and claims that UMC allowed CH to run up another $40 million after that for a current total of more than $90 million. That doesn’t sound like good management or good board oversight. The only logical reasons for them allowing the runaway debt were that UMC needed to continue to book the revenue to prop up its own financial reporting and because it thought it could use the debt as a tool to take over UMC.
He also says in his letter that taxpayers do not fund CH, that it is a non-profit. It’s convenient that contributions to CH run through UMC’s foundation. It he is trying to say that taxpayers do not have a vested interested in CH, then it’s all the more reason to believe that CH was set up largely as a captive income stream for UMC. One has to wonder about the legality of that.
If all the UMC charges to CH are legit, then the amount of CH debt owed to UMC shows poor judgment and bad management on the part of Valenti and his CFO, both of whom were paid big bonuses and given great performance reviews last year as the CH debt was piling up. If as he claims, the taxpayers do not have a financial stake in CH, that’s all the more reason that UMC should have not allowed CH to run up $50 million, much less $90 million, in unpaid bills.
Valenti and the UMC board can try to deflect all the blame onto CH if they wish, but the truth of the matter is that they too have failed in a massive way.
I predict Valenti will elect not to extend his contract after May of 2016 and that UMC will be in financial shambles when he leaves. If UMC is forced to write off much of the CH debt, UMC might end up needing a taxpayer bailout.
An independent, unbiased third party, possibly a regulatory or law enforcement agency, should conduct an objective, unbiased audit of all of UMC’s billing practices, especially those related to CH. Unfortunately, the County Judge and commissioners appear to be backing Valenti and UMC, so any audit performed under their auspices would be suspect.
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“An independent, unbiased third party, possibly a regulatory or law enforcement agency, should conduct an objective, unbiased audit of all of UMC’s billing practices, especially those related to CH”
A bankruptcy judge would look at all of the numbers.
Bankruptcy may be the only way for us to find out what they have done.
Brutus
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