UMC is closing two emergency clinics

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

University Medical Center is closing two Quick Care centers to help stem the financial hemorrhaging at the county hospital system.

Clark County's seven commissioners, in their roles as UMC trustees, agreed Tuesday to shut down clinics in Jean and at the Community College of Southern Nevada's West Charleston campus. The closures are part of a cost-cutting package intended to help the hospital recuperate from a $17 million deficit.

The closing of the Quick Care clinics, two of the county's 14 emergency centers, will save the hospital $215,400 from January through between January and June 30, 2003, officials said.

Clark County Finance Director George Stevens said clinics at the community college and in Jean were picked because they were visited by the least amount of patients. During the fiscal year ending in June, 1,161 patients visited the Jean clinic and 15,000 visited the college center, he said.

UMC Quick Care clinics registered 500,000 visits systemwide during that same period, Stevens said.

Jane Schmidt, a Jean-area resident, pleaded with commissioners to keep the Jean clinic open and said the closure would make it harder for her and other area residents to get good, prompt health care. She suggested staff cuts would be a better way to save money.

Stevens said physicians and staff members who work at the two clinics will be reassigned.

"They'll be absorbed through the system. Going into flu season, the volumes will be higher in the next few months than any point of the year," Stevens said.

In addition to the closures, the board agreed to nine other cuts intended to reduce the hospital's deficit by $4.7 million.

Limits on advertising, limiting travel expenses and a hiring freeze should help the financially ailing hospital recover, Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said.

The cuts will have no effect on the quality of care at the hospital, he said.

"This is the short-term stuff," Reilly said. "If all the projections hold it will reduce the debt." Stevens said the hospital is being careful with its cuts because cutting too much in some areas could make matters worse in the long run.

One example is the $900,000 advertising cut, he said. Earlier this year, UMC signed a $1.9 million public relations contract with Mark Brown and Partners.

"We're going to take a look at doing some of our advertising on a limited targeted basis," Stevens said. "There is a concern if you eliminate advertising that that will be counter-productive.

Also on Tuesday, the board hired a new chief financial officer for UMC, Mike Walsh. Walsh is president of Walsh Consulting, whose clients include a Las Vegas-based 25-physician speciality practice. His annual salary will be $130,000, they said.

Among the issues facing Walsh is the preponderance of uninsured patients at UMC.

UMC Chief Executive Officer Bill Hale said the hospital loses an average of $2 million a month mostly because the majority of beds are occupied by uninsured residents, leaving little room for paying patients.

The hospital recoups an average of $2 million a month in state Medicaid payments, but Medicaid patients cost UMC between $4 million and $5 million a month, Hale said.

More progress on the fiscal problems should come Friday when Reilly is to have his first conference call with Deloitte and Touche, Price Waterhouse Coopers and the Lewin Group, the auditors and consultants hired to investigate the county hospital's finances and to provide advice.