UMC continues to negotiate with El Paso Children’s Hospital over debt

It’s been about a year since ABC-7 first broke the story about the financial shortfall at El Paso Children’s Hospital. Since then, the University Medical Center board has been working with Children’s and El Paso County Commissioners to find a solution.

Monday afternoon, UMC board members met for the first time in 2015. If it were easy, they would have worked things out by now, explained Board Chairman William Hanson. He summarized the nearly three-hour meeting as a productive discussion.

“I think we have a plan of where we want to move next,” Hanson said, though he won’t say where.

“We hope we’re going to come to an agreement that helps keep the Children’s Hospital viable,” Hanson said.

That may include consolidation with the county hospital, something Children’s, a private hospital, has said it does not support. UMC has claimed Children’s owes it $70 million, a debt threatening to drag down UMC, the county hospital, with it. Children’s officials dispute that amount.

Last year, the Children’s hospital debt became a reality for 56 UMC employees who were laid off. The goal for 2015 now: Get Children’s out of the red, back in the black and profitable as soon as possible.

“We’re moving there little by little,” Hanson said.

Citing confidential negotiations with Children’s, Hanson didn’t say when he expects a final agreement.