Special Report: The promises and reality of El Paso Children’s Hospital

On Nov. 6, 2007, a slender majority of El Paso voters approved selling $120 million in bonds to construct a children’s hospital.

Fast-forward seven years — and the El Paso Children’s Hospital administrators are constructing a plan to keep the two-and-a-half-year-old facility solvent.

The financial troubles aren’t affecting the children being treated, like Danashyia Pritchard.

The 13-year-old has sickle-cell anemia.

Her latest visit to El Paso Children’s Hospital was spurred by a surgery to install a pin in her hip, as her bones deteriorate due to her condition.

“Danashyia has been in the hospital for nine days now,” said Patricia Baldwin, Pritchard’s grandmother.

But Baldwin said fortunately, the time spent in the hospital passes comfortably.

“They have comfortable beds, a kitchenette, and a fridge for us to put our food in,” Baldwin said.

“The hospital is a second home to me,” added Pritchard.

This “home away from home” is much closer than previous options.

“Travel is a great hardship,” said EPCH Physician-in-Chief Dr. Bradley Fuhrman. “It’s expensive and the family often has to split up because the person with the job can’t leave, or the job leaves them.”

Fuhrman believes that burden is largely eliminated.

“We’ve added three, almost four, dozen specialists who take care of only children,” Fuhrman said, adding the neonatal intensive care unit is staffed with a neonatologist at all times who can treat babies in need of the most critical care.

When asked if he thinks the hospital has done enough to inform the city of the services available, Fuhrman responded, “It’s a resource that you don’t want to use if you don’t have to. So, we don’t expect people to come here to sightsee.”

But city residents may have been expecting a better financial status from EPCH at this point.

Voters were told in 2007, the hospital would generate a profit in its first five years.

El Paso County’s financial feasibility study found EPCH would receive an additional $7.5 million in additional Medicaid reimbursements.

But in 2012 and 2013 — three different Medicaid payment programs changed.

A hospital spokeswoman said $49 million in forecast revenue dried up, even though admissions surpassed expectations.

The children’s hospital board announced in the summer that it had hired a new company to manage the hospital’s revenue. EPCH spokeswoman Susie Byrd told ABC-7 MedAssets was hired as the revenue cycle advisor to rebuild the hospital’s medical coding and billing platform and improve its revenues.

The chief financial officer was also replaced.

ABC-7 obtained contracts between the children’s hospital and University Medical Center, which was a proponent of the $120 million bond election for the construction of EPCH.

UMC also shares a campus with the children’s hospital and owns the building which houses EPCH.

One contract renegotiation in February of 2013 gave Children’s more time to pay its rent.

It showed Children’s already in the red with UMC by more than $7 million in Dec. 2012.

In March this year, UMC announced EPCH was now in debt to the county hospital by nearly $60 million.

By summer, UMC said it was $70 million.

UMC CEO Jim Valenti said the debt forced UMC to lay off 56 employees.

“I am affecting associates and their families and I’m sick about it,” Valenti told the media in July. “It’s been a very difficult period, and it’s just plain (expletive).”

ABC-7 had interviews lined up with Valenti and EPCH board chairman Sam Legate for this report.

Hours before the interview, Legate backed out because ABC-7 wouldn’t supply him a list of questions in advance.

Then, Valenti’s office told ABC-7 the CEO was declining to be interviewed after Legate contacted Valenti’s staff and informed them he was not talking to ABC-7.

The UMC spokeswoman told ABC-7 Valenti didn’t want to jeopardize the negotiations between the hospitals.

Before those interviews were scheduled, EPCH had provided ABC-7 access to the hospital and its administrators to talk about the hospital and its finances. Chief Nursing and Operations Officer Elias Armendariz told ABC-7 that the children’s hospital depleted its reserves paying UMC $35 million over two years for physician recruiting and other expenses.

“But that was what we agreed to,” said Armendariz. “We can’t look back now to say, ‘We should have, we could have.’ It’s what we’re going to do now.”

The next step is teaming with a major hospital in addition to UMC. Armendariz says that would boost finances and available treatments.

“What we’re looking for something to allow us to break through in the market and really be the hospital of choice,” he added.

The hospital is trying to keep its doors open. But it needs families to walk through them.

“The only way to generate the revenue is for the community to support us,” said Armendariz.

While the hospitals continue negotiations, families — including grandmother Patricia Baldwin — hope for the best.

“It’s not about us, it’s not about the community,” said Baldwin. “It’s about our children who come to the children’s hospital.”