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@SvetlanaOzden
The approval of UNM’s proposed adult-care hospital has been postponed.
The State of New Mexico Board of Finance voted to table the approval of the $146 million hospital during a board meeting Tuesday. Board members said the University has not provided enough information for the board to make a decision and that the discussion should be delayed until after the Nov. 6 presidential election.
Board members expressed concern that the need for additional beds may not be necessary if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is elected, as he has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would decrease the number of people who have access to hospital care. The act aims to provide Americans with more affordable health care.
Approval for the hospital has been well-supported by multiple community members, including UNM President Robert Frank, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
The adult-care hospital, which would include 96 hospital beds, would decrease emergency room waiting time, which is about 24 to 36 hours for inpatient care. The new beds would allow emergency room beds to be used for emergency cases because patients who need more long-term care could be moved to the new hospital. (See “Frank backs planned hospital,” published in Tuesday’s Daily Lobo.)
Approval for the hospital, which was on the agenda for the Sept. 18 State of New Mexico Board of Finance meeting, was postponed following a letter from UNM representatives. The letter urged the board to postpone the approval after members of New Mexicans for Equal Health Care Access and the Rio Grande Foundation said reasoning behind the new hospital was unclear and that the approval process lacked sufficient public conversation.
New Mexicans for Equal Health Care Access spokeswoman Kim Moss said in a press release that UNMH representatives’ claims that the hospital runs at a 90 percent occupancy rate are false and that the occupancy rate at UNMH is actually less than the national standard hospital occupancy rate of 75 percent.
The adult-care hospital was approved in public meetings by the UNM Health Science Center Board of Directors, the UNM Board of Regents and its Finance and Facilities Committee, the UNM Hospital Board of Trustees and the New Mexico Higher Education Department.
In response to the request to postpone approval, members of UNMH and the Board of Regents held four public meetings this month to address the concerns.
According to the New Mexico Hospital Association, the occupancy rate at UNMH is 63 percent.
Moss said that the numbers prove the additional beds are an unnecessary expense. She said UNMH should reconsider whether the new hospital is necessary and that taxpayer money should be used for more appropriate expenses, such as funding new clinics that would be helpful for New Mexicans.
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UNM Health Sciences Center Chancellor Paul Roth said that, regardless of whether the ACA is repealed, the hospital still needs additional beds. He said the board’s decision to table the approval was disappointing.
