For the second time since UTEP signed on as a partner in the proposed medical center, the UT System has
decided to place a major health-related asset on the UTEP campus instead of the Medical Center of the
Americas, a site anchored by Thomason and Texas Tech in Central El Paso.
Unlike the last time, however, when the placement of a biosciences research building seven years ago caused a
blowup between state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and UTEP President Diana Natalicio, with many community leaders
taking sides or getting caught in the middle, the collective response seems far more measured, and the outlook
for El Paso and the MCA positive.
No doubt many -- with Shapleigh in the lead -- consider it a missed opportunity to quickly develop "critical
mass" at the Medical Center of the Americas. In a letter to businessman and former UT Regent Woody Hunt,
Shapleigh outlined the history of the MCA and UTEP's involvement, criticizing the lack of public discussion in
the decision to place a new $50 million Allied Health center on the UTEP campus. Hunt was among other
businessmen to meet with UT Regent board Chairman James Huffines and UTEP President Diana Natalicio in El
Paso several weeks ago to discuss the decision; no public officials were involved, and although Hunt is a
member of the MCA Foundation, that body was not involved in the discussion either, leading to Shapleigh's
critique of the process.
However, Shapleigh's letter ends with a series of action items, noting, as have other community leaders,
including Hunt, that UTEP no longer has to be considered a major partner for the MCA to work. There are
significant developments on the horizon, spurred by funding last session for the Texas Tech Medical School,
which will accept its first four-year medical students in 2009.
"Here we have eight years of written agreements, a chancellor who signed off on a unified campus, the president
of UTEP who signed off on a unified campus, we have James Huffines admitting there's a partnership, but
where's the contribution?" Shapleigh said in an interview. However, he added, "Let's make clear that we are
moving forward. In a few short years we will have a quality nursing program on the MCA campus. When you
look at Phoenix, where the governor has brokered an agreement between the University of Arizona and ASU,
we see that as a model.
"We will work with the Community College, Texas Tech and other willing investors to add value to our region."
While defending the process that led to the decision, Hunt agreed that the future was wide open for the MCA.
Of UTEP's involvement, he said, "that presence will be dictated by them. It will be more realistically dictated by
demand, whether academic or research, and I think at this point the clear demand is on the research side."
The issue goes back to the late 1990s, when community leaders banded together to create the concept of a
"unified medical campus." In his letter (see link above), Shapleigh notes -- and includes citations as attachments
-- the steps taken over the years that appear to commit UTEP to a major physical presence on the campus:
-- Two signed documents from 1998 in which UTEP agrees to be a partner in a medical campus. One follows an
El Paso community summit, the other is a resolution "binding UTEP and the UT System to be a full partner,"
Shapleigh writes;
-- A 1999 El Paso Times editorial by Natalicio where she writes of a Border Health Institute (the forerunner to
the MCA) on a single campus that is a cooperative venture of UTEP, Tech and others;
-- Minutes of a 2001 meeting between Natalicio, Hunt and former Mayor Ray Caballero, which note that UTEP
and UT System investment in allied health would follow the state's commitment to fund the medical school;
-- An El Paso Times article from 2002, in which Natalicio said if UTEP gets funding from the Legislature for a
health science facility and if Tech gets the medical school, "we're going to do that."
However, Shapleigh wrote in his letter, Natalicio and the UT System did nothing to move the unified medical
campus forward in the past eight years. Further, he wrote, Natalicio damaged the medical school by calling it
"third-rate," and the UT System "worked hard to keep our Medical School from being funded." And, he wrote,
UTEP took itself off the MCA board "once she had engineered the PUF/Nursing item."
Hunt said that the process might have worked better had UTEP been able to wait until the next legislative
session to seek funding for the allied health building. However, he said, the UT System has its own
responsibilities, and without clear evidence that the nursing school belonged on the MCA campus instead of at
UTEP, it made the move it had to.
With more time, perhaps the studies to show the benefit of moving the nursing school to the MCA might have
created a better argument than the assumption that the school of nursing should go on the MCA, he said.
However, when the funding source came available, Permanent University Funds, as opposed to the Tuition
Revenue Bonds that would have been under discussion during the legislative session, it would not have made
sense "to tell them we didn't want it, and run the risk of not getting Tuition Revenue Bonds," Hunt said.
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There's an element of irony in Natalicio insisting on the physical presence of the nursing school at UTEP.
Although she was not available to NPT for comment on this article, in the past she has said that the nursing
students are undergraduates who have other classes that are located on campus, and apart from the convenience
of staying on campus, they would benefit from the undergraduate experience. Despite Shapleigh's assertions that
the record clearly shows a commitment by Natalicio and the UT System to a physical location, Natalicio also has
clearly argued in the past for a "virtual campus," using technology to link research.
The move might not hurt the MCA in the long run, but, said Shapleigh, it might have been a short-sighted move
by UTEP and the UT System.
"What is happening is exciting. We see critical mass to develop the Medical Center of the Americas. In all of
America we alone are focused on Hispanic health. Sadly, the loser will be UTEP. The quality graduate nursing
programs, the quality research in medicine will occur on our medical campus, and UTEP and UTEP students will
be the losers over time," he said.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, which is part of the Texas Tech System, offers allied health
programs, including nursing. There is nothing that limits Tech's presence in El Paso to the medical school. Other
colleges in the state also may be looking for partnerships, because of dwindling state funds and a mandate that
schools find ways to work together. And locally, the El Paso Community College is going to place nursing
programs on the MCA campus.
The college has allied health programs -- including dental assistance and hygiene, and classes for nursing -- at
the Rio Grande Campus.
"But we are already out of space," said Richard Rhodes, president of EPCC. "We would like to move our
nursing program to the Medical Center of the Americas, and leave the other allied health programs at Rio
Grande for now. We think it would be good for our students and faculty to have a presence in the type of
training and research environment that will include Texas Tech and Thomason and the facilities that they will
have."
So the components are either in place or in view for the MCA to develop a complement of health programs
without the major involvement of UTEP. In addition to the potential education institution partners, the MCA is
expecting a boost from the Children's Hospital at Thomason, assuming the $120 million bond issue passes in
October.
In fact, Thomason CEO Jim Valenti said that his institution is looking at a name change to reflect the activity.
One possibility is to change to Thomason University Center.
"We're delighted that the UT System has allocated $60 million in funding for the school of health sciences and
the school of nursing at UTEP," Valenti said. "UTEP and Texas Tech are very important players, as well as the
Community College and area hospitals, to be part of this Medical Center of Americas.
"In our community, underserved by health care professionals, it is important that all institutions secure funding
to improve and grow their mission of education. Although it appears UTEP will not be part of the physical
location at Raynolds and Alameda, they will be part of the virtual campus of the Medical Center of the
Americas," Valenti said.
Of the medical cluster emerging around Thomason, which also includes the Maxine Silva Magnet school in the
high school level, Valenti said, "we're having a big party and everybody wants to be part of the party. The
growth of medicine is here. Thomason is evolving into a university campus, Texas Tech is becoming a university
campus here and everyone should be excited by that. … A university is being created, and the center of
medicine is going to be at this location."
Emma Schwartz, executive director of the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation, a spinoff of the Paso
Del Norte Group formed to oversee the Medical Center of the Americas concept, said the master planning
process for the MCA is well underway, and soon will be released for comment.
"We think the value of this project is great with the participation of UTEP or without, so we're moving ahead
with our master plan to spur the appropriate development of the campus in the next two to five years, and also
the possibility of growth in the next 50 years," she said. UTEP is not part of the physical plan now, Schwartz
said, but the plan also includes a technology and transportation component, because "we want to be able to link
with those other great resources around town, for example, Beaumont hospital. They can't pick up and move to
our campus, so we want to accommodate them. A similar thing can happen with UTEP.
"Our goal is to market the entire region as Medical Center of the Americas."
Ralph Adame, a board member of the MCA Foundation, said that there is room for multiple centers of health
education and research.
"Personally I think the city can accommodate both, what UTEP is putting together as well as ours," he said.
"The major point of contention has been removed from the table, the nursing school, and knowing that’s the
reality, how best can we move forward for the benefit of the community?" Adame said. "I don’t think there will
be conflict down the road; I don’t think UTEP has to be in or out. Whatever role UTEP plays will be welcome
and I think add value to the MCA."
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He and others echoed Hunt's comment that the likely role for UTEP going forward would be as a research
partner.
"I think UTEP knows they need to be part of the MCA in one form or another, they understand the medical
school is something to be reckoned with ... and UTEP gets a lot of research dollars, and what better place than
the medical center?" Adame said.
Hunt said that multiple pieces are in play, and it's difficult to predict exactly how they all will fit.
"I think their (UTEP's) commitment is one that is demand-driven, and they should react as any entity, as
opportunities are created," Hunt said. "A big research grant in joint with Tech to drive resources to the MCA,
for example, with both Tech and UTEP involved.
"I'm not sure it's in UTEP or the community's best interest to try to lay out a future that's not taking into
consideration what is the demand for nurses, for research … all that can change over time and you need to have
the flexibility to react to it."
Shapleigh said now is the time for a specific commitment from UTEP.
"What marks true medical centers is a talent rich environment where patients and practitioners are together in
high quality facilities," Shapleigh said. "Over the next few months systems officials will be here to evaluate
investment and I am very hopeful they will make a commitment to some aspect of research, public health and
allied health. However, this time, I'm going to get it in writing and voted upon by the Board of Regents.
"For us right now, the most important thing is to build a critical mass and to keep momentum moving on our
medical campus," he said. "I am very confident of our direction for the future."