Editorial: Goal is worth the hurdles

Thursday, June 9, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

Last November Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and other city officials traveled to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Their mission was to interest doctors and administrators there in becoming involved in a new medical center planned for Union Park in downtown Las Vegas. Union Park is the name the city has given to the 61 acres of city-owned land whose diverse development is the central focus of the Goodman administration.

Before his trip to Pittsburgh, Goodman had a solid funding commitment for the Larry Ruvo Alzheimer's Center, which he sees as the anchor of the proposed new medical center. In his full vision, the center itself would be situated among a performing arts center, a new City Hall, residential and commercial buildings and possibly a baseball stadium. Goodman sees Union Park becoming a national attraction, with the medical center being world renowned for its research, health care delivery and organ transplant operations.

The officials at the Pittsburgh medical center were receptive to Goodman's vision. In March they visited Union Park. In April they informally proposed a partnership with the University of Nevada School of Medicine. The University of Pittsburgh would be the owner and lead operator and would assume the day-to-day financial risks while sharing some of the profits with the Nevada school. Their vision for the medical center includes an emergency room, an array of specialty offerings including transplants, cutting-edge research and employment and training opportunities for local health care providers.

Nothing this grand, of course, comes together easily. The major stumbling block is the estimated $250 million cost of building the center. Where would this much money come from? Goodman was hoping the 2005 Nevada Legislature would provide $25 million to help get the project started, but it provided the Nevada medical school with only $5.5 million. We hope the Legislature is more generous in the future.

Another hurdle came up this week when a group of doctors spoke out against the Pittsburgh involvement. They vowed to prepare a plan for building a locally operated center.

But we support Goodman's approach. In our view, a partnership with an established and highly regarded out-of-state university is a good idea, as long as the contract guarantees first-rate medical services and local access to them, revenue sharing with Nevada and jobs and training for local doctors and other health-care providers. This would be an opportunity to speed the day when Nevadans wouldn't have to go out of state for highly specialized medical care.