Editorial: Subject UMC study to reversal of roles

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 | 9:04 a.m.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly's task force on University Medical Center will complete an important study over the next six months -- defining the public hospital's role in the community. Although the task force was appointed because the hospital is losing millions every month, such a study should be undertaken every 10 or 12 years anyway to keep current with ever-changing social trends. We would like to see a concurrent study, however, defining just the opposite -- the role of the community in the operation of public hospitals. For the purposes of this study, the community would include private hospitals, private businesses and local, state and federal governments.

There are seven major private hospitals in the Las Vegas Valley, all competing for insured patients and leaving UMC to care for most of the indigent ones. What should their obligation be toward ensuring that the public hospital stays solvent? Should local and state governments do more to ensure that private businesses provide health insurance for their workers? And should state and federal governments increase reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid, major sources of revenue for public hospitals? Because hospitals all over the country are experiencing financial crises similar to UMC's, these and other questions are ones that Congress should address -- and act on.