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StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
Remaking a public hospital
Rogers a good choice to spur the effort to turn UMC into a teaching facility
Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010 | 2:06 a.m.
Jim Rogers has a big job ahead of him. The millionaire businessman, philanthropist and former chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education was picked by Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid to head the effort to transform the deficit-plagued University Medical Center into a teaching hospital.
Rogers will try to attract a top-notch health care partner to work with UMC and the University of Nevada’s medical school. He is an excellent choice, with his ties to education and health care. He also has a strong track record of accomplishment.
“He doesn’t stop at obstacles thrown in his way,” said Dr. Maurizio Trevisan, executive vice chancellor and CEO of the Health Sciences Center for the Nevada System of Higher Education. “He has energy and he has vision and he has passion for this thing.”
As Joe Schoenmann reported in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun, Rogers has access to many prominent donors and executives. Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who was a member of the higher education system’s Board of Regents when Rogers was hired, said Rogers “knows these people — he can get a hold of these people at Johns Hopkins or the Cleveland Clinic, and he can get them here.”
A tough-minded visionary, Rogers’ tenure as chancellor was marked by success. He calmed the university system’s Board of Regents, which had devolved into political infighting, and improved the image of the system. He also brought national prominence and helped UNLV to its first $500-million fundraising drive. He provided a strong voice for education in Nevada. His feistiness garnered him his share of critics, particularly as he took on university presidents, regents and the governor. However, whatever anyone thinks of Rogers, one thing is clear: He gets results.
The question now will be who he can lure to Nevada and how quickly he can do it. During a news conference last week, Rogers said he would work quickly and said he expects to have a preliminary plan done within 90 days.
He noted that things cannot go on as they currently are — Clark County provided $145 million in subsidies to UMC last year. The public hospital provides indigent care, which has been a drain on the budget. A change of focus to teaching and research would be a great addition to Southern Nevada.
The benefits of a strong teaching hospital are evident in other states with similar facilities. We would think that a greater focus on educating doctors would help not just the students but also the medical community. It should also bring cutting-edge care and improve medicine in Southern Nevada. As well, research conducted at teaching hospitals can spur economic development in a community.
Southern Nevada has taken significant steps over the past decade to improve the quality of medicine here and seen the start of the Nevada Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.
There are many challenges ahead to turn UMC into a teaching hospital, but we believe that it is a course worth pursuing and Rogers is the right man for the job. Done correctly, a teaching hospital, run by a prominent group, would take health care to a new level in Nevada.
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Improve the quality of medicine! Seems you ignore the many excellent physicians already here and insult them openly. As far as Nevada Cancer Institute goes, ever tried to get ahold of one them on a weekend or at night? Why don't they see their patients in the hospital? While their work is worthy of note I don't think their practice represent a better paradigm for Nevada.
Excellent Physicianss? Paging Dr Desai...Paging Dr. Desai.....make the hospital profitable by treating a a buch of students like slaves..
given the fact that the Cuban run hospital is the only real up and running hospital in Haiti...maybe we should run the hospital based on the Cuban model?
So whatever you think of Rogers, he gets results you say. Like Obama's "change", Rogers "results" have not been good for education in Nevada. He seems incapable of working beyond pique particularly in his dealings with actual successful administrators like Carol Harter. Why can't you cite a single instance of a decision made by Rogers that was not merely an exercise personal power, damn the consequences?
In my opinion, this is little more than the Democrat establishment on the county commission pretending to do something about UMC because their mistakes are getting harder to cover up and Reid is concerned about it coming up in the governor's race.
Committee Members, Comrads, Freemen, Partie Animals and Assorted Nutcases !
The hospital is in a reverse treadation and a good man here deserves a nod of the head. He has a proven success history, can weild a fairly large baton and is adept at manning an engine room with some polymath authoriety.
This is a classic megawreck in which the inmates are actually running the institution and losing out very fast at a costly expense to the state.
Those of you negativees and noPartey perhaps would prefer Rachel30MinuteRay, Gov.SarahICanSeeRussinPalin or maybe even FelonScooterLittie to see what they could do? Is that not an awful, nightmarish thought? There are some out there who love 'em.
Members and PartyAnimals, by all means send your checks to - Clinton.org - the poor of Haiti are in desperate need. Listen !! Do this now, today.
You live in the greatest, nicest, prettiest city in the world, lots of great food, hotels and casinos and most of all the world's prettiest woment so stop your pouting and get out there and find a way to enjoy the day. Hug somebody near you. Let's hope she's good lookin' and hugs back, too!!
Comrads !! Merci !!
Nurse Rachel Ray? I'll stay an extra day.