Distrust soured relations between UMC and EL Paso Children’s
With the negotiations and due diligence for the El Paso Children’s Hospital and University Medical Center deal said to be 90 percent complete just days before the bankruptcy, ABC-7 is asking: Was a lack of trust part of the breakdown?
UMC board chair Steve De Groat said that he’s not sure El Paso Children’s entered this process with a desire to see it actually work.
“I think what’s sad is that we’ve been negotiating in good faith until just a few days ago,” De Groat said.
De Groat said that knowing El Paso Children’s had voted to approve bankruptcy back in Februrary, none of what’s happened since seems sincere.
But Children’s CEO Mark Herbers said his hospital had every intention of working things out, but it was UMC that couldn’t be worked with.
“The unwillingness to commit to the deal that we had mediated,” Herbers said, “and not take into account the seriousness of our concerns. We were willing to live with that deal as mediated, and with changed terms it just wasn’t acceptable.”
From inside El Paso Childrens, doctors and pediatricians like Dr. Carlos Gutierrez said there was a lot of apprehension and distrust towards UMC.
“I’ve been in practice for 35 years,” Gutierrez said. “There has been a lack of trust for UMC for many, many years.”
Gutierrez previously served on the boards of UMC and El Paso Children’s. He said he doesn’t take issue with any individual at UMC, but rather the overall organization.
“But somehow, the history does go back to where there has been a lack of trust between the community, pediatricians and physicians and UMC,” Gutierrez said. “And as a result, when the negotiations were announced before, that UMC might have some part in taking over the management of the children’s hospital, it was a real downer to us in the community.”
Ultimately, that friction between the parties seems like a very big obstacle to finding common ground.
“Well, it’s frustrating,” De Groat said. “You know, we negotiated in good faith trying to seek a resolution that was workable for all parties concerned and for the health and welfare of our county children.”
