Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 11 a.m.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has offered a wide-ranging vision of a downtown academic medical center that would include everything from an emergency room to organ transplants, according to a proposal released Wednesday.
Under the proposal the University of Pittsburgh would be the owner and lead operator of an academic medical center planned for Las Vegas' 61 acres on the west side of downtown.
It calls for a partnership of sorts between the University of Pittsburgh and University of Nevada medical school.
The proposal, sent to Nevada university and Las Vegas city officials, said the Pittsburgh center would bear the financial risk of operating the Las Vegas center but ensure the University of Nevada School of Medicine saw some of the financial benefits of the center.
The center would offer a range of medical services, including, neurosurgery, neurology, orthopedics and potential research opportunities into areas such as stem cells and organ rejection, the proposal said.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said "that's their plan," when asked about the proposal to have the Pittsburgh center own and operate the center. But the mayor refused to further discuss any specifics of the proposal.
"This is just the opening suggestion," Goodman said, adding that a final agreement would probably be "very different" from this initial proposal.
"We're a long way from any kind of agreement," Goodman said.
The mayor said representatives from the Pittsburgh Medical Center, city, state university and medical school, The Related Cos. and bankers will meet on April 25 to discuss the proposal for a medical center, which Goodman said could cost $250 million. The Related Cos. is currently negotiating a development agreement with the city for the 61 acres, formerly Union Pacific rail yards that now sit vacant.
The proposal was requested by university system interim Chancellor Jim Rogers so local officials could get at least a general idea of what the Pittsburgh group wanted in a partnership for the planned Las Vegas medical center.
Rogers said Wednesday that he hadn't read the proposal yet and so would not comment on it, but said that in general he estimated the partnership has about a 30 percent chance of happening.
"People get territorial over who owns it and who runs it. The devil's in the details," Rogers told the Sun.
On "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Cox cable channel 19 on Wednesday, Rogers spoke before seeing the proposal, but he said there are a lot of complicated issues. And he said in his experience groups say they want to be partners but "partnerships are very difficult to keep together."
Most regents attenting a meeting in Carson City this morning did not know any details about the Pittsburgh proposal but several said it sounded exciting.
"Anything like that that will come and enrich what we've got, sure," Regent Howard Rosenberg, an art professor at UNR, said. "They are a first-rate outfit."
Dr. John McDonald, dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, said he would not talk about specifics in the proposal because he believes this is just the beginning of what could be lengthy negotiations.
McDonald said that while he is excited about the potential partnership, and bringing a "cutting edge" institution and some of its programs to Las Vegas, "It's too early to get excited about anything."
Jane Duffield, spokeswoman for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said Pittsburgh center officials would not comment on the matter at this time.
The Las Vegas medical center is planned to be a key component of development on the 61 acres and would be anchored by the Lou Ruvo Alzheimer's Center. Plans for the $40 million Alzheimer's center are well under way, as already about $20 million has been raised for the center, and world-renowned architect Frank Gehry has been brought in to design the building.
Current plans call for the Alzheimer's center to be turned over to the Nevada School of Medicine once it is completed.
The proposal from Pittsburgh "envisions intense collaboration among" the city, the University of Nevada School of Medicine, University Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, with the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine playing a "supportive role in advancing the interests of this collaboration."
The Las Vegas medical center would be transferred to the Pittsburgh medical center or a subsidiary "under a 99-year lease for nominal rent."
The Pittsburgh center or its affiliate would "assume financial risk for the operation of LVAMC (Las Vegas Academic Medical Center)."
The proposal also said that as "an integral part of the 'partnership' with UNSOM (University of Nevada School of Medicine), meaningful financial benefits will inure to UNSOM on an ongoing basis."
The proposal said the operating agreement between the two schools would ensure the Nevada school "will benefit financially from the economic success" of the medical center.
The medical center would be "organized as a non-profit, charitable, wholly owned subsidiary of UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), subject to oversight by a Board of Trustees. Certain reserved powers will remain at the parent level consistent with how all other hospitals within the UPMC are governed."
The board of trustees would include people picked by the city and Clark County governments, the state university and university medical school, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and its medical center.
"Subject to oversight by the LVAMC Board of Trustees, UPMC will have the exclusive right and responsibility for general management of the construction and equipping of the facility and for the ongoing business and fiscal affairs of LVAMC," the proposal said.
The proposal leaves a blank for the number of millions of dollars the city spend on the project.
"The city will contribute the site and an additional $ (blank) million of funding for construction of the facility and for equipment needed by LVAMC. (It has been suggested that the fixed capital requirements for the project will be ultimately funded via charitable contributions from the Las Vegas community. However, the timing for completion of this fundraising effort is uncertain. Accordingly, a meeting has been scheduled among the city, UNSOM, UPMC and JP Morgan to explore alternative and interim financing techniques,)" the proposal notes.
The proposal said the Las Vegas medical center would focus on the treatment of "end-stage organ failure," plus specialties of the Pittsburgh and Nevada medical schools.
"One such example is sports medicine where UPMC is recognized as a world leader in sports medicine under the leadership of the chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics, Dr. Freddie Fu," the proposal said.
The medical center would also have policies and programs aimed at caring for the indigent and those on medical assistance programs.
The City Council would ultimately have to approve any development deal and plans for the 61 acres.
The Related Cos. is scheduled to submit a development proposal to the city on May 5, but city and Related officials have said that deadline will probably be extended so they have more time to draft the agreement.
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