UMC, Children’s Hospital may not make deadline to secure millions in Medicaid funding

Friday is May 1, the date that ABC-7 was told was the cutoff date to make the deal between University Medical Center and El Paso Children’s Hospital — and it doesn’t appear the deadline will be met.

El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar told ABC-7 there are unresolved issues she’s not at liberty to talk about.

But she does say if a deal is not reached in the next few weeks, the County hospital probably won’t secure millions of dollars in Medicaid funding for Children’s Hospital.

Children’s Hospital owes just under $100 million to UMC.

ABC-7 asked Escobar if the money does not come to El Paso if that is a deal-breaker.

“I don’t know. That’s kind of what many of us saw as the ‘fighting chance’ as UMC put it,” Escobar said. “The fighting chance that Children’s had because it would allow for some stability — some financial stability.”

The chair of the Children’s hospital board says Children’s doesn’t have to be under UMC’s umbrella to get that Medicaid money.

She says UMC helps other for-profit hospitals apply for this funding because they provide services for the poor.