Thursday, July 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Funding outlined in memo on medical center not coming

"But this in no way kills the project. We are still talking.'' DR. LOREN H. ROTH UNIV. OF PITTSBURGH MEDICAL CENTER

Contrary to a recent memo written by Chancellor Jim Rogers to the Board of Regents, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center does not plan to contribute $150 million to help fund construction of a Las Vegas academic medical center.

"We have rejected that particular formulation," said Dr. Loren H. Roth, chief medical officer of the Pittsburgh institution. "I believe this was just his (Roger's) idea of how this would work best. ...

"But this in no way kills the project. We are still talking."

Rogers, who is on a fishing trip, was unavailable for comment Wednesday. But last week the chancellor said that despite his outlining financial details for the center in a memo, the only official agreement reached during a recent trip to Pittsburgh was that the groups would hire a planning consultant for the project in the near future.

Dr. James Lenhart, the vice dean of the University of Nevada Medical School which would partner with the world-renowned Pittsburgh institution in creating a new academic health care center, agreed the Pittsburgh institution has made no commitment to help build the center.

Lenhart accompanied Rogers and Betsy Fretwell, deputy city manager for the city of Las Vegas, on the recent trip to Pittsburgh.

"It was a very positive and informative trip," Lenhart said. "But we have a long way to go. It's much too early to get into details."

Roger's June 30 memo to regents, which he wrote following the trip, said that the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas "would have to raise $250 million for brick and mortar" and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center "would put in $150 million."

Until Roger's memo, the cost of the building has always been set at $250 million by Mayor Oscar Goodman and university officials.

"The project, in terms of brick and mortar, probably will cost $400 million," Rogers wrote in the memo.

Rogers also said the Pittsburgh institution "would front all expenses which they believe will exceed $100 million."

In a memorandum of understanding that is still being discussed by the parties, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has agreed to operational start-up costs that Roth recently said could run as high as $350 million.

The Pittsburgh institution has also said it would assume financial risk for the operation, which would run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

In his memo, Rogers also said that the Nevada universities and the Pittsburgh institution would share 50 percent ownership and profits.

But Roth again said "nothing has been agreed to."

There are "no numbers in cement" Lenhart said, adding Rogers' memo amounted to a proposal.

"There will be ups and downs in the process and we will both put forward ideas," Roth said. "We feel we can be helpful and continue to want to go forward."

Roth said the memorandum of understanding should be the basis for discussions, not hard numbers. That tentative agreement calls for "meaningful financial benefits" going to the University of Nevada School of Medicine "on an ongoing basis."

Dr. David Blumenthal, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, said Wednesday that successful academic medical centers generally operate with only a 2-5 percent margin.

Last week Rogers toured the Pittsburgh medical school, which grosses $5 billion per year, and rode in a helicopter to view its 19 hospitals and research units, which house more than 44,000 employees.

The financial structure Rogers set down in his memo appeared to address concerns among local physicians who worry that Nevada will lose financially by having an out-of-state partner. Local doctors have worried that Pittsburgh officials will try to get Las Vegas patients to fly to the East Coast for operations.

Roth said his institution wants to help create a center of medical excellence in Nevada, not steal patients.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is the world leader in organ transplants and recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top hospital nationally in 12 speciality areas.

The University of Pittsburgh ranks seventh in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding.

Officials envision opportunities for researchers from both Nevada and Pittsburgh medical institutions to work on stem cell research, regenerative medicine, the biology of organ rejections, advances in robotic minimally invasive surgery, and advanced imaging techniques.

Academic medical centers often attract the best doctors because they offer research opportunities in their fields.

Clinical medical options at the Las Vegas academic medical center, according to a Pittsburgh proposal, could include cardiology, with a focus on heart failure, heart and cancer surgery, neurosurgery, neurology and orthopedics.

Mayor Oscar Goodman has pushed for an academic medical center in Las Vegas, arguing that citizens deserve world-class medical care so they won't have to leave the state for their health care needs.