UMC doctors to recommend care unit

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, April 23, 2003 | 9:34 a.m.

A group of University Medical Center doctors is expected to recommend next month that the hospital create its own facilities for patients who may need extended medical care but who do not have to be in a hospital.

The Physician's Advisory Group will suggest UMC establish long-term care and skilled nursing facilities, according to information released Tuesday during a meeting of the UMC Citizen Task Force.

A member of the doctor's group said the long-term care center would be similar to a nursing home. A skilled nursing center is one for patients who may need daily medical assistance, such as receiving medication intravenously and weekly or monthly visits from a doctor, instead of the more intensive medical care regularly given at a hospital.

Patients with insurance or other means to pay for their care already move into privately run long-term or skilled nursing facilities when ready, Dr. Jerry Cade, a member of the advisory group, said.

If the hospital had these facilities, uninsured patients who are ready to move to these less intensive medical surroundings could be moved out of the regular hospital beds they now occupy, Cade said. Then those hospital beds would be freed up for another patient.

"A month ago I had three HIV patients in the hospital who could have gone to one of these facilities if they had a payment source," said Cade, who is also the medical director for UMC's HIV program.

UMC interim Chief Executive Officer Michael Walsh said there are typically 25 to 40 patients in regular UMC beds who could be moved to such facilities if they could pay.

Both of the recommended facilities could be housed on a floor or floors of the existing hospital so new buildings would not have to be built to accommodate them, Walsh said.

The advisory group did not estimate the financial impact of following through with these recommendations, or the other suggestions the group is expected to make during a May 20 meeting of the UMC Citizen Task Force.

The Physician's Advisory Group is also expected to recommend the hospital system build partnerships with other hospitals, insurance and other private companies, and government to spread the cost of caring for the uninsured; improve marketing efforts for UMC; and begin thinking of the public hospital system as one that should make money.

The physician's group, one of about 10 groups expected to make recommendations to the task force, was scheduled to present its recommendations Tuesday. However, the presentation was postponed until the task force's May 20 meeting because other presentations ran longer than expected.

The 10-member task force was appointed by the county commissioners to find ways to save the financially ailing county hospital system. UMC and the UMC Quick Care Centers received a $38 million infusion from the county in December.

During the Tuesday meeting, task force members were presented with a broad view of health insurance related trends for area hospitals.

"Today was informational, on the current state of affairs and to understand how the hospital went from making a profit in the late '90s to a position of losing $38 million a year," task force Chairman William McBeath said.

The task force will make its recommendations to the commissioners in August, said McBeath, who is also president and chief operating officer of The Mirage.

Before the Tuesday task force meeting, a new group calling itself Las Vegans for Affordable Healthcare held a news conference to announce its intention to work with the task force to help find a solution to UMC's financial troubles.

"It's a big job and they can't do it alone," group chairman Ben Contine, a Las Vegas community activist, said.

Contine said the group does not have any specific suggestions yet.

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