El Paso Commissioners Court approves purchase of land for new UMC clinic

They say the only guarantees in life are death and taxes.

The County has made a move it claims is good for the taxpayer and their health. Commissioners agreed to buy of a chunk of land near Raynolds and Interstate 10, just down the street from University Medical Center. That’s where a new UMC clinic will be built, helping to cut down costs and congestion in the county hospital emergency room.

The clinic is part of a $120 million bond passed in 2013 that will eventually mean three new clinics, one in East, West and Central El Paso. The county says they’ll save taxpayers money in the long run.

“We’re projecting 50,000 patient visits at each of our clinics, East, West and Central,” said Maria Zampini, chief operating officer for UMC. “It’s going to allow for the growth of the primary care. So instead of patients coming into the ER, you’ll be able to access centrally our primary care services, which is not currently available.”

Commissioners’ Court approval of the purchase of the old Lane’s Dairy site on Concepcion is expected to clear the way for construction of the new Central El Paso UMC clinic, along with the new clinics on the East and West sides of town. The hope is that they will reduce emergency room visits to nearby UMC.

“The whole point is to get people out of the emergency room where the highest costs come into play,” said El Paso County Commissioner Andrew Haggerty.

UMC officials told ABC-7 smaller clinics have already reduced emergency room visits at UMC by 900 over the first quarter of this year.

“This is a population where a third of our folks are uninsured and when people don’t have insurance they go to the emergency room,” El Paso County Commissioner David Stout said. “And if people don’t have insurance, they usually can’t pay for their health care and it’s the taxpayer that picks up the bill.”

“The use of our emergency room was growing year in and year out,” said El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar, who is confident the clinics will reduce costs in the long run. “This gets us in front of it, as opposed to always chasing the problem. We’re finally going to address the problem, which is access to healthcare, because we pay for it either way.”

UMC said a trip to the emergency room costs five times as much as a clinic visit. That average cost for an emergency room trip is $700, while a clinic visit is about $140.