UMC places lien on Children’s Hospital; another party could end up running Children’s Hospital
El Paso Children’s Hospital could brought into the El Paso County Hospital District. It’s an option on the table, said University Medical Center CEO Jim Valenti, at the breakfast meeting of County Commissioner Carlos Leon Wednesday.
“The Children’s board has to make that decision,” Valenti said. “They have to evaluate all of their options and then come up with a decision.”
Right now the Hospital District includes UMC, the UMC Foundation and El Paso First.
Leon recalled that Valenti said, “Through another party they could help Children’s Hospital survive. There are a lot of details that he hasn’t mentioned. It’s hard to relay what his plan is. “
Leon added that options for Children’s are running thin. He said he and Commissioners Court are expecting Valenti to talk to them next week about Children’s.
“I’m hopeful we can bring this chapter to a conclusion,” Valenti said.
“Mr. Valenti has spoken out of turn,” Children’s spokeswoman Susie Byrd said in a statement. “Both parties agreed to limit our comments to the media until we have concluded our negotiations of our existing contracts and our lease with UMC. This violation of such a simple agreement highlights why it has been so difficult to finalize negotiations that have been ongoing since this spring.”
Byrd added, “El Paso Children’s Hospital continues to implement the Global Financial Plan outlined to the public in the spring. Our goal is to stabilize the finances of the hospital so that we can continue to deliver on our mission for El Paso children.”
Valenti told ABC-7 that the amount Children’s owes UMC could now be closer to $81 million and not the $70 million previously mentioned by UMC.
Valenti said publicly over the past couple of weeks that an agreement with Children’s should be in place by the end of the year.
UMC Places Lien On Children’s Hospital
ABC-7 uncovered documents Wednesday that University Medical Center has a lien on the El Paso Children’s Hospital.
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) documents obtained by the ABC-7 I-Team show property, equipment, accounts and contracts are among the collateral for the lien.
Liens are typically used when a creditor wants to protect its interests.
The documents don’t show the amount of the lien
UMC in late May filed the UCC filing against Children’s with the state of Texas which Children’s then-CEO Jim Dziesinski interpreted in June as a possible precursor to UMC trying to take over Children’s.
Over the summer, UMC said El Paso Children’s Hospital owed it about $70 million.
Children’s disputes that amount, its administrators saying “in light of the services/spaced actually provided by UMC to El Paso Children’s
Hospital, a more accurate amount is significantly less.”
Shortly after, both sides stopped talking about the amount of the debt citing ongoing negotiations.
UMC administrators have said the lack of payment from Children’s led to a $60 million budget shortfall this year for UMC, which in turn led to 100 budget cuts, 56 layoffs and a moratorium on employee merit raises for the year. UMC also took out a $20 million dollar line of credit to pay expenses through the end of the year.
UMC and Children’s officials have been renegotiating their contract this year.
During a news conference in mid-June, Dziesinski talked about some of Children’s solutions to their money problems, including examining all expenses to see what can be saved without making cuts to programming or staffing.
Dziesinski also told ABC-7 after the news conference that this plan differed from UMC’s proposal in that UMC’s only addressed changes to UMC’s role on the Children’s board. He said UMC’s proposal did not include economic measures.
Dziesinski said that 24 different options for moving forward were reviewed, including some that included asking for government funding or shutting down some services at the hospital.El Paso Children’s Hospital could be run by another party in the near future.
University Medical Center CEO Jim Valenti made the announcement at the breakfast meeting of County Commissioner Carlos Leon Wednesday.
Leon recalled that Valenti said, “Through another party they could help Children’s Hospital survive. There are a lot of details that he hasn’t mentioned. It’s hard to relay what his plan is. He only said that El Paso First was possibly in the mix.”
Leon added that options for Children’s are running thin. He said he and Commissioners Court are expecting Valenti to talk to them next week about Children’s.
“Mr. Valenti has spoken out of turn,” Children’s spokeswoman Susie Byrd said in a statement. “Both parties agreed to limit our comments to the media until we have concluded our negotiations of our existing contracts and our lease with UMC. This violation of such a simple agreement highlights why it has been so difficult to finalize negotiations that have been ongoing since this spring.”
Byrd added, “El Paso Children’s Hospital continues to implement the Global Financial Plan outlined to the public in the spring. Our goal is to stabilize the finances of the hospital so that we can continue to deliver on our mission for El Paso children.”
Valenti told ABC-7 that the amount Children’s owes UMC could now be closer to $81 million and not the $70 million previously mentioned by UMC.
Valenti said publicly over the past couple of weeks that an agreement with Children’s should be in place by the end of the year.
UMC Places Lien On Children’s Hospital
ABC-7 uncovered documents Wednesday that University Medical Center has a lien on the El Paso Children’s Hospital.
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) documents obtained by the ABC-7 I-Team show property, equipment, accounts and contracts are among the collateral for the lien.
Liens are typically used when a creditor wants to protect its interests.
The documents don’t show the amount of the lien
UMC in late May filed the UCC filing against Children’s with the state of Texas which Children’s then-CEO Jim Dziesinski interpreted in June as a possible precursor to UMC trying to take over Children’s.
Over the summer, UMC said El Paso Children’s Hospital owed it about $70 million.
Children’s disputes that amount, its administrators saying “in light of the services/spaced actually provided by UMC to El Paso Children’s
Hospital, a more accurate amount is significantly less.”
Shortly after, both sides stopped talking about the amount of the debt citing ongoing negotiations.
UMC administrators have said the lack of payment from Children’s led to a $60 million budget shortfall this year for UMC, which in turn led to 100 budget cuts, 56 layoffs and a moratorium on employee merit raises for the year. UMC also took out a $20 million dollar line of credit to pay expenses through the end of the year.
UMC and Children’s officials have been renegotiating their contract this year.
During a news conference in mid-June, Dziesinski talked about some of Children’s solutions to their money problems, including examining all expenses to see what can be saved without making cuts to programming or staffing.
Dziesinski also told ABC-7 after the news conference that this plan differed from UMC’s proposal in that UMC’s only addressed changes to UMC’s role on the Children’s board. He said UMC’s proposal did not include economic measures.
Dziesinski said that 24 different options for moving forward were reviewed, including some that included asking for government funding or shutting down some services at the hospital.
