UMC ON FIRE

THE COUNTY COMMISSION MISMANAGED TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WITH THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER. THE MORE NEVADANS ANALYZE, THE MORE THEY KNOW WHO TO BLAME.

It's the most embarrassing story for the Clark County Commission since operation G-Sting. Yet, while G-Sting sent commissioners and ex-commissioners to the big house, UMC will only send taxpayers to the poorhouse, while the current commissioners collect political favors.

This latest round of incompetence is sure to force state government to step in and take control of the "USS University Medical Center" with Captain Rory Reid, son of famed U. S. Sen. Harry Reid, at the helm of this sinking ship.

UMC's financial troubles finally came to light after the commissioners failed for months to question why reports weren't being filed in by the hospital management team. Now taxpayers will be left holding the bag. Last month, county commissioners voted to bail out the bankrupt hospital to the tune of 60 million taxpayer dollars, making state legislators nervous, fearing that Nevada would have to take over the hospital. Reasonably, they started asking questions. 

State Sen. Maurice Washington called for a hearing and proposed taking the hospital out of the hands of the Clark County Commission and putting it into the hands of a professional management firm. Rory Reid then displayed his total incompetence, testifying before the legislature, with a straight face: "To remove elected officials from the front line of responsibility with respect to a public hospital would be a mistake."

Huh? Are you kidding us?

The mistake was allowing this nitwit to have anything to do with the hospital in the first place.

Now, sources are telling Liberty Watch that it might take another $95 million to keep the hospital afloat.

The question becomes this: Why is Mr. Reid fighting so hard to keep control of the hospital?

First, he is beholden to the union bosses. Second, he has a relationship with political operative Billy Vassiliadis, CEO of R&R Partners. Commissioner Reid along with other union sympathizers - commissioners Tom Collins, Chris Guinchigliani and Susan Brager - are not only indebted to the union bosses and Vassiliadis, but they will brazenly do the bidding for these big donors and names.

Sources have told Liberty Watch that the SEIU [Service Employees International Union] union bosses control the day-to-day operations at UMC. That should concern all taxpayers and law enforcement.

According to the Nevada SEIU website, the union bosses were proud to boast that the "SEIU members reached an agreement with Clark County and UMC administration giving us the respect we deserve and the tools to continue providing high quality services and healthcare to the community!"

And what respect did our union friendly commissioners show the SEIU bosses?

Well, because Rory Reid decided to abandon his fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers, we must now foot the bill to fund an outlandish 23.6-percent pay increase for the first three years of the life of the public hospital contract. And when you add in the fourth year of the contract, the public hospital union members will realize a whopping 32.3-percent increase over the life of the contract. However, private sector SEIU union members will realize a much more realistic 13-percent pay increase over the life of their contract.

Rory Reid injected himself into the middle of negotiations between the privately owned Universal Health Services and the SEIU. So, Reid knew what the market rate for pay increases was at the time he voted for the outsized contract at UMC. 

This means that Rory Reid is either totally incompetent or he is a criminal. My opinion is the latter.

Here's the simple math: The UMC SEIU contract will cost taxpayers nearly 100 percent more than the same private sector contracts that have been signed with the SEIU.

No wonder the public hospital is bankrupt. It's obvious Rory Reid has zero respect for the taxpayer. One thing he has convinced Liberty Watch of is we should remove him from the front line of responsibility immediately.

On April 9, word started leaking that the $60-million taxpayer bailout wouldn't be enough and the 2008 fiscal deficit might reach and additional $54 million.

Well, like all good politicians, the geniuses at the County scheduled a budget review. Guess what happened? Hospital administrators and county commissioners got a case of fiscal sobriety and started proposing the elimination of various programs. Of course, everything they picked was wrong.

      Here are a few proposed cuts:

•  Lions Burn Care Unit: $1.5 million

•  HIV Wellness Center: $2.96 million

•  Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: $4.75 million Family Resource Center

•  Two Quick Care Units: $3.2 million

These strategic cuts are generated more as a PR tactic to gain the public's sympathy for the hospital plight versus good fiscal policy. UMC's administrators even announced that they would decrease salaries and benefits expenses by $4.6 million.

Did we get that right?

Now that's fiscal responsibility!

Unfortunately for taxpayers, it's a bunch of crap being shoveled by our County Commissioners. They're not going to decrease salaries or benefits. Hell, these are the same elected officials who just signed a brand new four year super-duper "thank you for supporting us in our elections" union contract.

This is where political operative Billy Vassiliadis comes into the picture. UMC has a $4.3-million advertising budget. Why a public hospital needs to advertise in the first place is beyond us. Well, until you see which advertising agency has the contract - $3.6 million of the advertising budget went to Brown & Partners, a company that, according to the Secretary of State, is owned by William "Billy" Vassiliadis.

What's interesting is Vassiliadis is same guy who controls the Las Vegas Convention Authority advertising contract, which had been riddled in controversy over how that contract was awarded. One can only wonder how many more state and local government advertising contracts this guy controls.

We're not saying anything nefarious has taken place. In fact, we're sure sure that it is just a coincidence that Vassiliadis' company ended up with the UMC advertising contract. 

However, we just can't come to terms with a $4.3 million advertising budget for a public hospital. It seems outrageous. Private hospitals around Clark County spend less than $1 million on advertising. 

So what's the solution?

In the private sector, when a company is facing losses the size UMC is facing, of course, the first thing that takes place is evaluations followed by mass restructuring. Unfortunately, that hasn't taken place in a serious manner by the county commission. The proposed cuts they have made are akin to blaming the fork and knife for Rosie O'Donnell's weight problem.

The first thing most business leaders look at is labor cost, followed by advertising budgets. Those are the first items to be cut to reduce the financial bleeding. But, we know with the new massive 32.3-percent pay increase package, signed by the county commission, labor costs weren't seriously looked at in any meaningful way.

Based on the generous coincidences that have taken place in the past, we suggest the following changes immediately. We would review all employment records to make sure that everyone on the payroll is, one, living and, two, working. 

Also, immediately move to sell off all the Quick Care units throughout the county. This will accomplish two things. First, the proceeds should generate about $6.5 million to reduce the hospital debt. Second, operating cost savings should be around $25.6 million. Right there is a $32.1 million savings for taxpayers.

Lastly, we would hire an aggressive collection agency to collect unpaid bills. We would also review all discounts provided to groups using the hospital.

Liberty Watch looks at this from the outside. As businessmen, it's just basic business acumen, not rocket science. If we had full access to the hospital, we would be able to reduce the bleeding by 60 percent in 45 days. The most important thing that needs to take place is that this culture of corruption ceases and taxpayers become priorities when elected officials are casting votes.

Taxpayers should call their county commissioners and tell them to convert UMC to a 501c3 nonprofit, managed by a board completely void of any political influence and to put the hospital into the hands of an outside professional management team. 

Once these two things are in place, a realistic review of operations can be done to assess the hospital's future. LW