UT: THE EYES OF TFA ARE UPON YOU!

UTMB AND UT HISTORY OF ATTACKS ON TENURE

Click below for a historical perspective of the U.T. System's systematic weakening of tenure written by Dr. Charles Zucker, former Executive Director, Texas Faculty Association.  (The current director is Tom Johnson.)

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/files/ut_system_tenure_busting_070223.pdf

For a quick overview of the UTMB tenure crisis, click on the link below to take you to the article that held top billing on the blog for months:

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/2007/04/tenure_under_at.html

UTMB administration used claims of a financial crisis to justify its attack on tenure through the new School of Medicine faculty compensation plan.  The link below leads to an article that debunks the claims of poverty put forward by administration:

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/2007/01/tales_to_look_f.html

And for readers who need a smoking gun to be convinced, something is sure enough smoking here:

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/utmb_galveston_chapter_te/2006/08/utmb_administra.html

HOSPITAL DISTRICT PUSH BEGINS IN EARNEST

Galveston voters are getting the ol' one-two punch from the Galveston County Daily News today.  Please see "UTMB Funding Comes with Strings Attached" in the 7/5/09 on-line edition of the Daily News.  An excerpt:

“When they hear the word ‘indigent,’ most people are going to immediately think a person is on welfare, lazy or unemployed,” Yarbrough said. “But the hospital district is going to help cover the working poor, residents who work in our fast-food establishments and big-box stores or service employees — waiters and waitresses — who don’t make enough money to buy their own plan or people who have lost their jobs.”

State Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, who is credited with devising a plan keep the medical branch on the island, thinks voters would approve a hospital district.

“I think it will pass because it has to,” Eiland said.

Also see an editorial in today's Daily News on the proposed district titled "Support Hospital District Concept."  An excerpt:

If local people fail to do that, the $150 million won’t come, the tower won’t be built and the medical branch will have to get by with the 330 beds it can fit into John Sealy Hospital after moving such things as the kitchen and pharmacy off the first floor. One hundred of those are prison beds so, for the public, John Sealy would be reduced by more than half.

Apparently, you can’t operate a Level-1 trauma center with a 230-bed hospital.

Are 230 beds enough to operate a serious medical school? We doubt it.

The Blogmeister recognizes the need for a hospital district.  It's a political necessity as much as anything else, but still a necessity.  I also think, however, that Galveston's citizens should watch over their money and their interest in the welfare of UTMB by poring over its finances regularly and relentlessly to make sure all funding received by administrators is used wisely and on the level.  UTMB's officials have shown time and time again that they're capable of pulling a "fast one" on the public.  Whether it was a reduction-in-force or legislation regarding the biolab, they didn't bother to coordinate anything with the community until they got caught. 

UTMB and UT corporate-style officials continue to lust for the mainland and the prospect of more profit. Service to the community means little to nothing to them, as evidenced by how little credit faculty got for community service before they were thrown out into the street during the RIF. If the community doesn't keep that outfit on a short leash, they'll find themselves strung up by the longer variety. 

TEXAS A&M FACULTY SHOW SOME GRIT IN "NO CONFIDENCE" VOTE

With all the mayhem going on in the A&M system about now, the Texas A&M faculty senate's vote of no confidence in McKinney would seem to be warranted; it's also a gutsy move.  In the UT system, just questioning authority could be deadly to a career as the treatment of 3 UTMB faculty senate chairs has shown us.  Let's see how these people fare under the A&M system. Please see "A&M Faculty Votes 'No Confidence' in Chancellor" in the Houston Chronicle.  An excerpt:

"This is not to say that the chancellor is a bad person," Michael Benedik, a senator and biology professor, said in Wednesday's Bryan-College Station Eagle. "Take the words literally. Do we have confidence in him as a leader? ... I, for one, do not."

Professor Michael Benedik is a brave man.  The Blogmeister will try to check in on him from time to time and see how he fares. Meanwhile, some UT faculty senates could take their lead from the A&M senate.  Shared governance shouldn't be given up without a fight.

FOLLOW THE BLOGMEISTER ON TWITTER!

You may have noticed a new feature in the sidebar to the right--Twitter!  Short bits of information that don't really rate a full post for whatever reason will appear there.  Also, anyone who follows the Blogmeister on Twitter will get a "tweet" (from a really tweet guy, by the way) notifying him or her of an update to the blog.  Hey!  Life doesn't get any better than that. 

CHEERING ON A PATIENT'S DEATH ON FACEBOOK?

The Blogmeister got the comment below way back in March and has been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since.  I've decided to get some help in my decision-making and am submitting it to the blog's readership for comment and recommendations.  Please note that I have redacted the names of the people chatting here, but I have 'em:

I would prefer not to have my name published with this comment...
This is what UTMB Nurses/Residents say about their patients on facebook...
[Chatter #1] is waiting for a pulse to disappear.Sun 3:50pm · Comment · LikeUnlike · Show Feedback (4)Hide Feedback (4) You like this. 
[Chatter #2] at 5:16pm March 22
make sure it does before i get there!!
[Chatter #1] at 5:34pm March 22
trying, but I think he is waiting for you! BP now 29/17(19) with a strong carotid.
[Chatter #3] at 10:00am March 23
this is a little wierd
[Chatter #4] at 11:18pm March 23
It's life. Die already.

I would imagine someone with some authority could still find this chat even if the participants delete it.  Nothing ever goes away, I hear, in Cyberland. 

For the record, I don't believe for an instant that this represents mainstream thought by caregivers at UTMB or any other health care institution. So what do I do with this bit of information?

 

FORMER UTMB FACULTY SENATE CHAIR'S HEARING COMPLETE

The final hearing for folks represented by TFA (and I suspect the final hearing--period) ended at 4:05 PM yesterday, running just over 4 hours.  The TFA advocate, Jose Briceño, representing the faculty member at the hearing, felt like, overall, things went well, and he even said that the chair of the hearing panel, the one who was trying to shut down the Blogmeister yesterday during testimony via telephone, did get around to asking some good questions as the hearing progressed. 

Even so, the prognosis for this UTMB professor is poor.  The Blogmeister believes that a couple of agendas over and above any stated RIF criteria landed him in that hearing, and the hand-picked members of the hearing panel, all part of management, aren't disposed to look kindly on faculty appeals.  Of the 18 appeal results the Blogmeister has right now (a total of 30 appealed, I'm told), two managed to get reinstated, and administration turned right around and canned one of them again anyway.  Regardless of the prognosis, this former faculty senate chair did the right thing by standing up for himself and the other faculty members who fell under the knife. 

All we can do now is await the inevitable result.

UPDATE ON TODAY'S RIF APPEAL HEARING

Officially scheduled for two hours, the hearing for a past chair of the UTMB Faculty Senate went from 9 AM to noon and recessed until 3 PM, at which time it will reconvene. 

The Blogmeister testified concerning the RIF process and the purported exigency by telephone this morning.  The chair of the hearing panel tried to shut me down when I began discussing the many departures from policy and accepted procedure administration took along the way to cutting 127 faculty.  He said that it had nothing to do with the two criteria for appealing: (1) that financial exigency wasn't the reason the faculty member was cut, or (2) that he was treated differently than others in his specialty or discipline, making his RIF'ing arbitrary and unreasonable. I pointed out that all these departures, particularly allowing chairs and directors to make the cuts rather than a viable RIF committee (UTMB's secret committee had only 7-8 minutes per career, on average, and no documentation unless they asked for a CV) amounted to arbitrary and unreasonable termination precisely because they led to abuses such as that suffered by Dr. Charles Lui, who was RIF'd because of a legitimate disagreement with his chair, not because of performance or any stated criteria his department claimed. The hearing panel chair then went on to tell me that this wasn't about Chuck Lui.  I agreed and went on to discuss one of the agendas (there was at least one other agenda I didn't discuss) I believe today's appellant fell victim to: administrators' desire to oust viable Faculty Senate leaders, something that wouldn't have happened if an objective RIF committee had been formed early on and been allowed to do its job in accordance with Regents Rule 31003.  I had a heckuva time fighting thru the hearing panel chair's objections, but I said what needed saying and got it on the record. 

As for the exigency, in so many words I said that I did not believe there was one in that UT sat on top of billions and did nothing, even though it said it could through a Moody Investments report THAT UT STAFFERS EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION.  Furthermore, I said that even if there had been an exigency, there sure as heck isn't one now with all the money being thrown at UTMB by the state, which increased UTMB's appropriation by $109 million, easily swallowing the adjusted operating margin deficits administrators have claimed--and again, I emphasize the word "claimed." 

We'll see how things wind up today after they reconvene at 3:00 PM.

UTMB FACULTY SENATE PAST CHAIR RIF APPEAL HEARING TODAY

The RIF appeal hearing for one of the three RIF'd UTMB faculty senate chairs is scheduled for 9:00 AM today in the Main Administration Building on campus.  As previously discussed on this blog, three of the last five were RIF'd, and both the Blogmeister and the UTMB faculty noticed that those three chairs were the ones who actually tried to participate in shared governance in a meaningful way rather than simply take orders from administration. 

Avoiding the RIF:

A chair who avoided the RIF was told by President Stobo in 2006 not to discuss the proposed compensation plan at a faculty senate meeting.  He went back and actually told the senate that they were forbidden to debate the plan and, to the consternation of the senators present, did his best to obey orders.  He's the same one who threw softball questions, screening the tough ones submitted by faculty, at a question-and-answer faculty gathering with high-level administrators. Ultimately, administrators strong-armed the controversial plan down faculty throats with the predictable result that individual faculty salaries could be expanded and contracted almost at will by administration, depending on whether or not a faculty member was perceived as a "team player."  The faculty senate chair during the time the compensation plan was being peddled to faculty may have done a disservice to his colleagues, but he sure kept his job, eh? Not coincidentally, the past chair trying to salvage his career at today's hearing was one of the voices who tried to speak reason to President Stobo and his administrators. 

The Blogmeister figures that today's hearing will run for four or five hours, although it is scheduled for only two.  The past chair has gathered an impressive array of witnesses and a stack of documentation that will take some time to go through.  I'm afraid it will all fall on deaf ears, and if it doesn't, President Callender gets the last say anyhow.  They want a cowed faculty senate that will do what it's told, mere window dressing that they can point to when SACS or other academic accrediting agencies come to town.  With the public execution of three careers, they'll most likely get what they want. The Blogmeister hears that the new chair, due to take office on September 1st, isn't exactly known for courage.

 Today's hearing will last only a few hours, but its effects will last for years.

LATEST UT SYSTEM FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES ON RIF

The UT SYSFAC discusses several important issues, including additional RIF concerns, in these revealing minutes.  Here's a pithy little excerpt from an exchange between SYSFAC members and UT attorney Dan Sharphorn:

Q: What are the consequences of violating a Regents’ Rule?

A: This is a good question. If someone is terminated in violation of rules, the courts will not like that . . . The attitude of the courts is that, if an institution has rules, it is supposed to follow them.

UT/UTMB, of course, followed little to none of the processes outlined in Regents Rule 31003. Open the links here and here for a discussion of UT's transgressions against its own policy, the most egregious transgression being that of allowing chairs and directors to do the work the RIF committee, by policy, was supposed to do.

Click on the highlighted text to view the full UT SYSFAC minutes for March 2009 (the latest minutes posted). 

SENATOR GRASSLEY STILL PUSHING FOR DISCLOSURE

Senator Charles "Chuck" Grassley is still out there trying to root out corruption in research.  Click on the highlighted text to see his latest news release dated 6/24/09. UTMB's Paxil scandal appears in the release. 

BITS AND PIECES

The Blogmeister is getting cauliflower ears from having them to the ground so much lately.  What am I picking up?  A few things:

I hear a dean has taken a looooong time to decide on a very well-qualified and active TFA member's promotion and has departed from how things have been handled in the past.  The Blogmeister sincerely hopes that this dean is not trying to reignite the flames of an old brush fire.  Blow on embers long enough, however, and flames do, sure enough, jump back to life.  The Blogmeister had backed off because, on the whole, people were behaving themselves.  One would think that with as much trouble as this high-level UTMB official already has, particularly trying to recruit sorely-needed new faculty, the good dean would have more constructive things to do.  On the other hand, the Blogmeister always loves to visit an old flame.

I hear an old ally has finally caved under pressure and pretty much gone over to the Dark Side to keep a job.  A hurricane and a RIF will do that to a person. 

UTMB is still looking far and wide for nurses.  As readers are aware, the Blogmeister's sister is in the hospital in College Station.  A nurse there told me she got a call from UTMB. She's not coming, by the way.

DAILY NEWS OPINION PIECE: A SOBERING, REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Dolph Tillotson tells it like it is in his opinion piece titled "Steps to Move UTMB Forward," in the 6/28/09 on-line edition of the Galveston County Daily News.  An excerpt:

In his remarks last week, UTMB president David Callender quoted a UT leader who, after the devastating 1900 hurricane, wrote resolutely: “UTMB stops for no storm.” In 2008, ironically, there were many UT leaders who seemed entirely willing for UTMB to stop for a storm, and Callender was their point man.

LUI RIF APPEAL DECISION DOCUMENTS AND NON-RENEWAL LETTER

As regular readers are aware, the Blogmeister has been highlighting Dr. Charles Lui's successful RIF appeal and, incredibly, his subsequent non-renewal.  Linked below are Dr. Lui's RIF appeal decision (including the hearing panel's rationale) and the letter documenting the incredible decision to non-renew him.  The whole episode constitutes an enlightening view of UTMB's inner-workings and management philosophy:

Download Lui RIF Appeal Decision

Download Urban-Lui Non-Renewal 090616

BUSINESS JOURNAL PROVIDES UTMB CONSTRUCTION MONEY NUMBERS

Please see "UTMB Starts Post-Ike Building Surge," in the 6/26/09 on-line edition of the Austin Business Journal.  An excerpt:

And in the farthest-reaching portion of the construction work, up to 70 percent of the 100 buildings on UTMB’s Galveston campus will be renovated to mitigate future storm damage. This involves moving building systems and valuable equipment above the first floor.

Several Texas Medical Center facilities made similar renovations following Tropical Storm Allison.

But the boys on the barrier island didn't change a thing.  Even the most myopic among them should have seen the light on that distant train bearing down on them. Instead, they collected hefty salaries and big bonuses for years while they left the venerated Old Red sitting on the tracks.  The inevitable and easily predictable train wreck finally happened, and UTMB was, indeed, thoroughly wrecked. 

And then there's this worrisome excerpt:

UTMB will collect more than $100 million in insurance proceeds to be used toward the work. And $97 million will come from general revenue funding for operations.

Are they really going to use their much-vaunted operating money to build and mitigate?  The public has heard over and over and over again that FEMA money, PUF (Permanent University Fund) money, Sealy-Smith Foundation money, etc., can't be used to fund operations so UT couldn't lift a finger to help prevent layoffs, and now we hear that $97 million of operating money will be used to build and mitigate? 

Now, UTMB, crying about its purported "operating margin" deficit ($51 million claimed for FY 2008), received an increased state general revenue appropriation of $109 million.  Apparently, administrators intend to take most of that increase and use it to build instead of paying what would normally be thought of as expenses related to operations (e.g., employee salaries, vendors, utility bills, etc.).  Of course, they cut about $86 million from the salary expense line after Ike, which leads the Blogmeister to believe that the people thrown out on the street are paying for much of UTMB's building plans.

Something doesn't smell right about these numbers.

MORE ON LUI NON-RENEWAL

As revealed in an earlier post, Dr. Charles "Chuck" Lui won his RIF appeal and was told by UTMB President Callender that he was to be reinstated to his non-tenured position in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine.  Callender's letter was dated June 1, 2009.  The letter informing Dr. Lui that his contract would not be renewed for FY10 was dated June 16, 2009, about two weeks later, although Dr. Lui did not actually meet with his chair, Dr. Randall J. Urban, until June 24, 2009.  The Blogmeister imagines a half-dozen UT lawyers jostling for position between the signing date and presentation date,

The letter, dripping with irony and which says as little as possible for legal reasons, says the following:

June 16, 2009

Charles Y. Lui, M.D.
Division of Cardiology
Department of Internal Medicine
The University of Texas Medical Branch

Dear Dr. Lui:

I am writing to remind you that, according to our memorandum of appointment, your appointment with the University of Texas Medical Branch will end on August 31, 2009. I also want to take the opportunity to thank you for your service to the department.

If I can be of assistance as you seek other employment, please let me know.

Randall J. Urban, M.D.
Edward Randall and Edward Randall Jr.
  Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine
Professor and Chair
Department of Internal Medicine

The immediate practical effect on Dr. Lui is this: RIF'd untenured faculty ceased being paid by UTMB on May 31, 2009, about six months after they were notified of being cut.  Presumably, Dr. Lui's pay will be or has been resumed after having been scheduled to be cut off the day before the date of Callender's reinstatement letter.  Now, he should receive a paycheck up until August 31, 2009, essentially giving him 3 additional months on the payroll. 

For readers who may not be acquainted with how Texas institutions work nonrenewal of faculty contracts, please allow the Blogmeister to expound just a bit. 

The whole set-up (and it is a set-up) is based on two fictional but legally sanctioned premises:

(1) A faculty member has no expectation of employment beyond the terms of an annual contract, and

(2) If the institution entered into a contract with a faculty member and allows that faculty member to finish out the contract, then where's the harm?

In fact, people DO expect to get another contract year after year, and, in fact, people are harmed by being run off. The beauty of this oh-so-legal scam is that administrators can fire someone, claim they're not firing anyone, and not have to say a solitary word about why they booted that someone off the campus because they're simply allowing a contract to expire and not renewing it, treating faculty like the soda vendor with whom they've contracted down the street.  Sometimes, as readers may suspect, administrators' motives are not exactly pure.  Sometimes, they might not even be legal, yet they have to justify nothing.  Look at Dr. Lui's case: even the administrator-picked RIF appeal hearing panel strongly suspected retaliation, yet management was confident enough to nonrenew Dr. Lui almost immediately after "reinstating" him. 

Academic freedom? faculty governance? job security? Those three are endangered species in Texas.

(The Blogmeister is attending to his sister in the Critical Care Unit at College Station's St. Joseph's Hospital and writing this post from a motel computer room.  When I return home, I'll post the original documentation for all this.)

REINSTATED AND THEN DEVASTATED--AGAIN

As if the hurricane was not enough, as if the loss of his job was not enough, as if the high-stakes anxiety of going through a RIF appeal hearing was not enough, the Blogmeister has just received a telephone call from Dr. Charles Lui, a RIF'd member of UTMB's Department of Internal Medicine.  Dr. Lui is one of only two appellants to have his job reinstated through the recommendation of the hearing panel and as approved by President Callender.   Why was he approved for reinstatement? Because the circumstances surrounding his reinstatement sounded like retaliation. 

After having received notification via a June 1, 2009 letter from Dr. Callender that he would be reinstated, Dr. Lui reports that he was just informed that his contract would not be renewed. 

The Blogmeister understands that documentation is on its way.  Once I receive it, I will post it on this blog.

And these people wonder why nobody trusts them.

MORE ON UTMB'S ER COMEBACK

Please see "UTMB's ER Room Set to Re-Open Aug. 1" on the My Fox Houston website.  An excerpt:

Residents who've witnessed serious injuries say a return to emergency care will give them peace of mind.

A Houston hospital is where a 12-year-old girl was flown to after police say her sister accidentally shot her over the weekend.

"If UTMB had been up and running, maybe she could have lived," said Thebatha Sykes, a neighbor.

This is, of course, really good news for the community.  As previously discussed on this blog, however, administrators have had to contract with an outside company to provide ER services since they ran off 16 of 17 ER faculty.  Now the Blogmeister wonders if UTMB administrators, ever the anti-tenure bunch, will permanently privatize UTMB's ER functions or if they will eventually phase the contractor out and use UTMB's own, yet to be recruited faculty again to train new ER physicians.

SPREAD THE WORD: 100 TOP ACADEMIC MEDICAL BLOGS

Care to spread the word about the good and bad at UT and UTMB?  Check out the top 100 academic medical blogs!

THE SCIENTIST ON RIF APPEALS

Here's a fine story featuring quotes from RIF'd faculty by Elie Dolgin of The Scientist.  Please see "Most Texas Staff Lose Job Appeals." An excerpt:

"The way that the whole thing was set up and executed, I think it was a farce," Roger Vertrees, a former non-tenure track associate professor of surgery who had his appeal denied, told The Scientist.

DAILY NEWS ON GALVESTON COUNTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT

UTMB's "strategy" is paying off.  Please see "A Gentle Reminder from Gov. Perry" in today's on-line edition of the Galveston County Daily News.  An excerpt:

While the governor declined to give details about what he would consider an appropriate response, it’s clear from past discussions of other state leaders that the minimum amount is somewhere around $15 million.

The questions about how the local share will be covered — whether by a hospital district or by earmarking more county money to cover expenses for county residents who can’t pay their medical bills — are politically loaded. Some people in the northern part of the county are more or less openly campaigning against any taxing district that extends into their neighborhoods.

UTMB claims, and I emphasize the word "claims," that it had a $51 million deficit in FY08.  Going by its own annual financial reports, UTMB administrators, led by President Callender, took an outfit with steadily increasing net assets and a positive cash flow and headed straight for the negative numbers. Callender claims a whopping $51 million "adjusted operating margin" deficit in 2008, more than double what UTMB claimed in 2007. That's some fine stewardship, there, eh? (Has anyone else noticed that both years that UTMB really howled about its much bally-hoo'd and boo-hoo'd operating deficit, 2006 and 2008, coincided with big-time land purchases and building projects on the mainland?)

Now, UTMB is getting an increase of $109 million in general revenue alone in this biennium's budget, which is more than enough to cover even Callender's performance.  Then there's all that other money to consider, a total near $1.4 billion, a healthy portion of which can be used for operations, as well.  Add that to UTMB's reduced personnel expenses as a result of the reduction in force, and--PRESTO--UTMB and its well-heeled administrators are rolling in the dough. 

And these guys are going to hold Galveston County hostage for $15 million?  A single departing faculty member has cost them close to that much.

 

MORE QUOTES FROM RIF APPEAL HEARING PANELS

A few more quotes from UTMB RIF appeal hearing panels to start readers' Monday morning:

These first two quotes are from the same decision:

Mr. [redacted] stated that the 3 criteria used by the Department of Internal Medicine, namely contributions to education, availability and efficiency, were chosen without documentation of their significance or comparison to 10 other legitimate performance criteria that were considered but not chosen for use. He also stated that the department provided no evidence that it analyzed performance based on these criteria in comparison to other doctors in her [the appellant's] discipline, and that such evidence even of her own performance was not provided to them by UTMB because of patient privacy considerations. [Blogmeister comment: Ah, the star chamber!]

The Committee notes that Dr. [redacted] is of great value to UTMB, and that losing her will adversely affect UTMB's clinical enterprise and relationships with many in the Galveston community. It is also unfortunate that the performance criteria applied may have been more difficult to achieve in the short term by a faculty member who needs to go part time for family reasons.  [Blogmeister comment: EEOC anyone?]

From another decision:

One member of the Panel felt, based on the evidence presented at this hearing, that while the UTMB leadership was sincere in believing that financial exigency existed, that was determined based on the assumption that no assistance would be available from the UT System or the state government. UTMB is clearly a part of the UT System and is not independent in making any major financial or policy decisions.  Therefore, the UT System, which has very considerable assets of its own, had a responsibility to secure at least some emergency funding for UTMB through requests to the state government or securing credit, and there is no evidence that the System made any such efforts or requests. This inaction reflected the UT System's concerns about the UTMB's financial sustainability before the storm. As part of the UT System, UTMB should not have been obligated to compensate in the short term for Ike-related losses solely through its own resources, and the UT System should not have required that it declare financial exigency. [Blogmeister comment: This lone, dissenting panel member showed some real guts here.  Let us hope he or she is not in the cross-hairs now.]

 

BITS AND PIECES FROM THE RUMOR MILL

As always, the rumor mill at UTMB is still cranking out fodder. All of the rumors reported below are, of course, unconfirmed. Are any of them true?  You tell me. 

• Word has it that top administrators in the UTMB head shed have shed the facade of a united, "we-love-each-other" front now that the legislative session is over and, instead, are taking shots at each other, with one extremely high profile administrator, in particular, in the cross-hairs.  For now, the Blogmeister will leave this person's name off the blog, but word has it that he/she has sold his/her house already.
  

• Former employees are being brought into old cases to testify about pre-RIF lawsuits, and UTMB is paying the price for terminating these people, I understand.  When one's job does NOT depend on what one says, one is more likely to tell the truth and maybe throw in some information that, perhaps, the plaintiff didn't know to ask about. 

• UTMB physicians are still not allowed to see Galveston patients as they'd like, and are, instead, strongly encouraged to practice more on the mainland. 

• UTMB continues to have a terrible time getting new faculty, at least new qualified faculty, the ones with choices, with many pulling applications. 

• Word has it that administrators are planning to give themselves hefty bonuses toward the end of August when everyone is thinking about all that new money coming in and not about the old money lying around.
   

GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL FOR UTMB'S RECOVERY

Please see "Perry Signs UTMB Recovery Bill" in the 6/20/2009 on-line edition of the Galveston County Daily News.  An excerpt:

Dr. David Callender, medical branch president, promised Perry he and his staff would be good stewards of the funds the legislature had entrusted to them.

The state’s 2-year budget includes $566.5 million in general revenue funding for the medical branch, about $109 million more than the previous biennium.

Let us hope that President Callender means the bit about good stewardship.  He and his administrators kept their FY 2009 raises and his staff was in line for $3 million in bonuses well after the storm and after putting 3,000 people and their families on the street.  Before Ike, as UTMB's annual financial reports clearly show, he took an institution that had steadily increasing net assets (a key indicator of institutional health) and a positive cash flow (more money coming in than going out) for years and soaked both critical portions of the spreadsheet in red ink. Click on the highlighted text to view former CFO Larry Revill warning Callender, as deferentially as he could, about the cash flow problem he was about to create. Somebody really wanted to move to League City. Maybe somebody still does.  Those 64 acres on the mainland are still there, and they're still building. Even today's Daily News article points out that rebuilding bed capacity to what it was is dependent on a hospital district or other money coming in--even after their legislative windfall. 

Good stewardship involves more than words and slick public relations statements. 

JOB POSTINGS: IS UTMB PLAYING FAIR?

Here's a reader comment just postedthat I think deserves more exposure:

Rumor has it in the local Galveston business community that UTMB is now hiring 13 faculty in internal medicine as well as the 100 nurses we have seen advertised so much. They are being told that the people who were RIFd probably don't want to come back anyway because they feel they have had a bad experience. Nice spin, no? Also I hear that the recent nursing school graduates are being offered jobs instead of the nurses who were RIFd. Any one have information about this?

Posted by: anon | June 18, 2009 at 10:43 PM

After getting an e-mail from another faculty member last night pointing out that Hot Jobs has a bunch of UTMB positions open, I thought I'd go there and look for myself.  Open the link below to see all 98 of them. 

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/job-search?jobtype=PERM&jobtype=CONT&commitment=FT&commitment=PT&locations=Galveston%2C+TX&country=USA&industry=EDU&kw=UTMB#core=%7B%22offset%22%3A0%2C%22detailed%22%3Afalse%2C%22sort%22%3A%7B%22type%22%3A%22relevancy%22%2C%22reverse%22%3Afalse%7D%7D

EXCERPTS FROM RIF APPEAL DECISIONS

The Blogmeister found these excerpts from RIF appeal decisions interesting.  Perhaps readers will also:

In addition, Dr. Lieberman stated that he advised Dr. Epstein to retain two other faculty who where [sic] initially on the RIF list, but covered two or more key areas in the SOM teaching mission.

Dr. McNees testified for the department and stated that no formal criteria were provided to the department to conduct the RIF process, other than to list faculty in three categories. The department decided to make the list and categorize faculty as A, B or C based on the percentage of salary support from extramural funding sources. [Blogmeister comment: Regents rules require consideration of much more--and by a RIF committee.]

Dr. Niesel did not see the notice of grant award from MDA until December of 2008 and stated he checked with the Dean's office and was not allowed to change the recommendations for the RIF based on new awards. [Blogmeister comment: Let's not deal with reality as things change, eh?]

There was also a brief discussion regarding Dr. [redacted], a new recruit who sustained a delayed arrival at UTMB because of the aftermath of the hurricane. Dr. Niesel stated that this particular case did not affect the RIF process, because she had already made important professional and personal commitments to moving to UTMB. [Blogmeister comment: And those RIF'd had not made commitments to UTMB?]

Stay tuned for more excerpts.

RIF APPEAL UPDATE 6/17/09

Via the Texas Public Information Act, the Blogmeister has received the results of 18 RIF appeal hearings.  As Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Barry Burgdorf previously revealed, two faculty members were reinstated.  One was reinstated because the department actually admitted that the reason he was terminated was primarily because of an ongoing argument with a director, so the panel found that the circumstances appeared to be retaliation and recommended reinstatement.  The second reinstatement, one of the Blogmeister's appellants, was reinstated because the panel found that other, less qualified faculty had been retained while he was terminated, thereby making his termination arbitrary and unreasonable. 

Obviously, President Callender has yet to rule on nine of the appeals for which I know hearings have been completed.  Add the three cases that were pending at the time I got the information on the 27, and final decisions have yet to be made on 12 cases total.  TFA will obtain those results at the appropriate time.  It is not unreasonable to expect one or two more reinstatements, I suppose. 

Some interesting information is coming out of those decisions, however.  I promised not to post the records themselves, but I don't think quoting a sentence from one will violate anyone's privacy.  One of the decisions contained the following:

He continued to work on the gift account, which included visits to [redacted], until he was terminated on November 24, 2008 and was required to vacate his laboratory within 10 days [emphasis mine].

Readers should keep in mind this appeared in the "Findings of Fact" portion of the panel's decision and was determined with the chair present for the hearing.

Contrast the above statement with the statement below by Executive Vice Chancellor Kenneth Shine and UT General Counsel Barry Burgdorf in a letter to the AAUP:

All employees were allowed to keep their offices and labs. Therefore, your statements that you have heard "reports that some faculty members [have received orders] to vacate their offices and laboratories" is unfounded and simply untrue.

The Blogmeister has already obtained permission from the faculty member to share his panel decision with the AAUP. 

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: TWO UTMB PROFS REINSTATED "SO FAR"

The RIF appeal process is turning out pretty close to the Blogmeister's prediction back in April.  Back then, I said that I expected a couple of token reinstatements to give administrators some cover, and now UT Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Barry Burgdorf has told Houston Chronicle reporter Harvey Rice that exactly two have been reinstated "so far" ("Firings of UTMB Profs Draw Probe," 6/15/09):

Charles Holtzer, 65, a professor of psychiatry, was fired after 24 years at UTMB. “It’s a negation of one’s entire career,” said Holtzer, who accuses the administration being arbitrary in its selection of those to be fired.

Holtzer was one of 30 tenured professors who appealed his firing. So far two who appealed have been reinstated, Burgdorf said.

A few things to note here:

1) UT is publicly revealing the paltry number of reinstatements only after the Blogmeister asked for hearing results via a Texas Public Information Act request.  It's a pattern the Blogmeister has seen before.  These guys are open and transparent when it's apparent the word is going to get out anyway. Regardless, I'm happy to see the truth out a little earlier than I would have gotten it out since I have to wait on administrators to respond to my request. 

2) Earlier, I reported that a UTMB official had said that 27 of the 30 hearings were complete.  Since that was about two weeks ago, I imagine one or two more have been dispatched. It doesn't look to me like UTMB can push the number of reinstatements up very far at this stage, particularly since a July 1 hearing is for one of the terminated UTMB past Faculty Senate chairs.  Three of the last five chairs were swept up in the RIF, leading the Blogmeister to believe more than an exigency was at work there.  Open the link below to admire a couple of administrators unhappy with the Faculty Senate over the Faculty Senate's resistance to the 2006 compensation plan.  They were clearly sorting leaders out, as this e-mail reflects:

Download Stobo-Parisi re Comp PLan 060718

3) This story is getting legs.  Besides the Galveston County Daily News and the Houston Chronicle, check out who else is running the story:

Midland, TX

Dallas, TX

(Want to help those legs get stronger?  When you go to a story, click on any of the links for other media such as Digg and Yahoo! Buzz. Spread the news.)

4) Dr. Charles Holzer, quoted in the Houston Chronicle's story, is still out there slugging for faculty rights.  This man has fought against this unjust RIF every step of the way; moreover, he did so with all other RIF'd faculty in mind, going so far as to post all of his appeal materials, including a recording of his entire hearing on-line.  He has left and continues to leave some very large footprints for investigators to follow straight to the scene of the crime.  When he's in town, Chuck should never have to buy his own drinks or dinner for the rest of his life. Faculty owe Chuck more than they can possibly repay. 

TEXAS A&M HAS A PEW NEXT TO UT AT TEXAS CHURCH OF THE GOLDEN CALF

If knowledge doesn't have a direct, commercial application, it's apparently still the forbidden fruit in Texas, where the collection plate apparently reigns supreme in the two largest systems.  Please see "A&M President Resigns Before Regents Meeting" in the 6/14/09 on-line edition of the Houston Chronicle.  An excerpt:

[Former A&M President] Murano has complained system officials sometimes have bypassed her in working out agreements with faculty members or private companies to commercialize scientific advances, while some faculty say the governor's influence has led to an emphasis on commercially viable research at the expense of basic research.

In an open letter Friday from the executive committee of the A&M Faculty Senate, Senate Speaker Robert Bednarz wrote that the school's status as one of the nation's 60 top-tier universities was being threatened.

CANCER CLINIC SLATED TO REOPEN

In the weeks after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, UTMB administrators shut down the McAllen Cancer Clinic, causing quite an uproar in the community and upsetting a powerful state senator, one Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa. The clinic treated undocumented and uninsured people, and UTMB administrators, having cut off care to the uninsured in Galveston six weeks before Ike, had an excuse to cut off the uninsured in McAllen, too.  Senator Hinojosa and the Rio Grande Valley delegation fought hard to reopen the clinic and got funding appropriated to help the helpless who need care.  The Valley is lucky to have an advocate of the caliber of Senator Hinojosa. 

Please see "UTMB Announces Plans to Reopen Cancer Clinic" in the 6/13/09 on-line edition of the Valley Morning Star.  An excerpt:

The center often saw undocumented teenagers and women who had no private medical insurance or Medicaid coverage and might have been rejected for treatment elsewhere.

Laid-off employees and former patients of the McAllen clinic have sought support for reopening the facility, holding rallies in front of the closed building and urging legislators to approve funding for the center.

UT SYSTEM PRESIDENTS AND SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR SALARIES & SUPPLEMENTS

Click on the highlighted text to see the salaries and salary supplements (as opposed to total compensation, which considerably swells the numbers) of the institution presidents in the UT System and that of Chancellor Cigarroa and Executive Vice Chancellor Kenneth Shine.  Some were updated, and readers can view those here.

The Blogmeister views some of these salaries, particularly those of UT's "million-dollar men," with some degree of wonder since these are tax-supported institutions.  I know.  Well-heeled advocates will howl that if the state wants the best, then it has to pay for the best.  Right.  Just look at what the "best" did to UTMB and Galveston.  Furthermore, worshipping the Golden Calf leads to the abuse of the least powerful among us, those unable to leave an offering at the altar because they cannot afford the insurance that fuels these bloated salaries.  I sometimes wonder if citizens would not be better served by presidents willing to take lesser salaries and, instead, find some compensation in the good they do for others. 

I know. . . .  

UT SENDING MIXED MESSAGE ON AAUP INVESTIGATION

Reporter Laura Elder of the Galveston County Daily News has written a story titled "Academic Association to Probe UTMB Layoffs," about the pending AAUP investigation of the UTMB reduction in force called, supervised, and controlled by UT.  Readers should note that while UT claims it is a separate legal entity and claims that the "decision" to RIF was made by UTMB President Callender, not a single UTMB official is quoted in the article.  It's all that separate entity UT's show now. After all, loose lips sink ships, eh? 

Despite all of this effort to control the message, the Blogmeister doesn't see a consistent line coming out of UT just yet.  Consider this quote from Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Barry Burgdorf in today's article in the Daily News:

“We have engaged in a respectful dialogue and intend to fully cooperate with the investigative procedure,’ Burgdorf said.

Now contrast that statement with this Burgdorf gem appearing in a June 1, 2009 story in The Scientist:

"What's happening here is that the AAUP doesn't want to ever see a professor terminated, so they're looking for any way they can to prevent that from ever happening,"

Now there's some respectful dialogue for ya!  No mixed messages there. 

 

BLOG COMMENTER SUGGESTS A LOOK BACK

A reader recently left a comment suggesting that, knowing what we know now, a look back at a UTMB FAQ last updated on December 19, 2008, would be some pretty interesting reading.  Intrigued, the Blogmeister did just that, and, in fact, it was an interesting read, particularly, as the commenter suggested, the rationale for not cutting administrator salaries (#36 in the FAQ).  Heck, they were planning on giving themselves six-figure bonuses, so the last thing on their minds was a pay cut, I'd imagine. Click on the highlighted text to take a walk down memory lane and look at what they said then versus what happened and what they say now.  The Blogmeister recommends the following questions on the FAQ:

• #3: This one provides a breakdown by age, gender, and race of RIF'd employees.  Of course, it leaves out about 600 or so of the 3,000 Callender announced the day before the RIFs began.  UTMB claims that they left through attrition. 
• #5: Check out the wording for who made the decision. Let us not forget that the regents pointed the finger at Callender during the open meetings lawsuit.
• #9: This portion purports to explain how people were selected for the RIF. Note the claim that administrators followed the Regents Rules with the secret committee formed without faculty input, a committee with virtually no documentation to review even as it had only a few minutes per faculty member to rubber-stamp the "recommendations" from a two-day parade of chairs.  Administrators followed neither the regents rules regarding faculty governance nor the rules regarding conducting a RIF.  What they did do, however, was demonstrate an immense distrust of faculty despite all the "team" and "family" rhetoric one hears.
• #36: You have to love the rationale that cutting high level, six-figure administrator salaries couldn't possibly cover an $86 million payroll.  One could use that rationale for any segment of the UTMB population.  "Golly, cutting department administrators could never cover a monthly payroll of approximately $86 million."  "Golly, cutting Biochemistry faculty could never cover a monthly payroll of approximately $86 million." Yep, that's some ironclad logic there. 

UTMB FACULTY SENATE MINUTES ON RIF

UTMB's Faculty Senate discusses the RIF and its impact in its April minutes.  Click on the highlighted text to view these minutes.  Note that the minutes say that "at least" 13 more faculty left since the RIF was announced.  The Blogmeister posted a document back in February that listed over 60 faculty members who had voluntarily left after Ike.  Even that number has to be much larger now. 

UTMB REOPENING ER

UTMB is aiming for August 1st to reopen its emergency room and shut down its highly questionable urgent care center, which has allowed them to avoid treating the uninsured.  As speculated earlier, administrators will be forced to use a contractor since they skillfully ran off 16 of 17 ER faculty. 

The Blogmeister hears UTMB administrators are still around 70 nurses shy of a full deck, too.  I understand that they're having an extremely difficult time finding medical professionals of whatever stripe, from Candy Stripers up, who are willing to subject themselves to the UTMB management experience. 

Please see "UTMB to Reopen ER Closed Since Ike" in the 6/10/2009 on-line edition of the Houston Chronicle.  An excerpt:

Marshall said UTMB will have the same services available as a Level 1 trauma center but won’t have the designation until an application can be made to the American College of Surgeons.

He said it would probably take about two years to restore the program for training emergency room doctors that ended with the closure of the trauma center after the Sept. 13 storm.

UTMB SAYS NO STAFF INCENTIVE PAYMENTS IN 2010 FOR 2009 GOALS

After having caught UTMB administrators and staff standing in line for $3 million in bonuses as late as December 2008, purportedly in the middle of a financial crisis, the Blogmeister thought it would be a good idea to see what was brewing for 2010.  UTMB officials, of course, are fond of saying that they don't get bonuses.  No, they get SIPs, Staff Incentive Payments, based on the achievement of performance goals.  Accordingly, I asked for administrators' 2009 goals upon which any 2010 payments would be based.  UTMB's Public Info Officer, James D. Kelso, came back via the letter linked below and said that there are no documents responsive to my request and that incentives have been suspended. 

Download Copy of Kelso-Reamy PIA re SIPS 090610 Redacted

Ok, but now I'm watching for someone to try and pass out bonuses based on 2008 goals since TFA's investigation stopped those payments.  If administrators do that, then they'd better give faculty the incentive payments they earned in 2008, as well, the payments administrators canceled even before Ike, about the time they scooped up those 29 acres with MSRDP/faculty practice funds.

TFA is watching. 

RIF APPEAL UPDATE 6/9/09

Due to a family member's being admitted to Providence Hospital in Waco, the Blogmeister has handled his last appeal hearing.  I managed to represent five of six assigned to me before illness struck.  I guess that's not too bad.  My final case has been reassigned to TFA Faculty Advocate Jose Briceno, a knowledgeable and aggressive representative, and I am in the process of handing off the case now.  This final hearing is being scheduled now, and is likely to occur on July 1, 2009.  I do not know but suspect that this July hearing will be the last of the 30 appeals to be processed.  As indicated previously, I have requested hearing results via the Texas Public Information Act.  The public will soon know how these hearing panels have been ruling. 

UT ISSUING $625 MILLION DEBT

UT is issuing $625 million in revenue bonds and Build America Bonds.  In addition to discussing these bonds, the article linked below includes a discussion of UT's overall financial health.  Please see "University of Texas' $625 Issue Not Half BAB" in the 6/9/09 on-line edition of The Bond Buyer.

$150 million of the total debt issue was authorized by the legislature to build a new hospital on the island.  As readers may remember from yesterday's post, however, building that hospital is contingent upon more money being ponied up for uncompensated care.  In other words, UT won't build the hospital on Galveston unless Galveston County comes up with a hospital district.  One way as the other, this debt is being issued; the money will be available.  UT will build somewhere, and it has 64 acres just across the bridge.  It's all part of the "strategy."

HOSPITAL DISTRICT: UTMB'S "STRATEGY" COMES TO PASS

As discussed yesterday, the e-mail featured previously also forwarded a document titled "UT System Legislative Issues 81st Legislature."  It covers many topics, but the UTMB-specific portion is excerpted below.  Most of this information is already well-known, but the Blogmeister does find one of the bullets, the one apparently tying the creation of a Galveston County Hospital District to the $150 million Tuition Revenue Bond, a bit disturbing. 

• Hurricane Ike relief for UTMB
o $150 million in state funding to match FEMA federal funding for reconstruction
o $150 million Tuition Revenue Bond (TRB) authorized for construction of second hospital, subject to increased local contributions for uncompensated care
o $97 million in state General Revenue (GR) for operations in 2010-2011, in addition to continuation of current, pre-hurricane GR funding
o $50 million in Social Service Block Grant funding from Health and Human Services Commission (not through legislation but as part of overall agreement)
o No action on legislation to dedicate DSH and UPL funds to UTMB

If the Blogmeister is reading this right, that second, on-island hospital won't happen if the district doesn't happen.  These people have gotten $1.4 billion, and they're going to tie the creation of this hospital to the paltry $15 million per year that a hospital district could raise, assuming the folks in the North County go along with it? 

The Blogmeister smells a "strategy."  In a previous post, I featured a document discussing post-Ike money authored by UTMB official Laura Smith.  Ms. Smith's document contained the following:

Re: local hospital district: 1) start developing strategy for tying identifiable portion of restored services to adoption of local hospital district (e.g. Trauma One, additional beds, unsponsored care of a certain amount). . . .

Clink on the link below to view the entire document:

http://txfacassn.typepad.com/files/smith-blaine-re-hosp-dist-redacted.pdf

 Tying the new hospital to the proposed hospital district would be the "additional beds" mentioned above.  Apparently, UTMB, no doubt aided by UT muscle, implemented their "strategy."  "Scheme" seems closer to the mark. 

If Galveston County does not vote for a hospital district, and that's by no means a given, residents can bet that UTMB, cheered on by UT, will gleefully cartwheel across the bridge and build up its bed capacity in League City.  It still has those 64 acres, and those corporate profiteers still lust after the dollars on the mainland.

Staying where people, particularly uninsured people, need them has never been and will never be a priority to those who seek profit over people. 

UT SYSTEM DISCUSSES LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Appearing below is the text of an e-mail from a UT official to all UT campus presidents discussing legislative priorities.  It is revealing that, although UTMB gets space in a document forwarded by this e-mail, the UT System official fails to mention UTMB at all as he discusses priorities. As readers may recall, even legislators complained during post-Ike hearings that UT has not historically had UTMB high on its list of priorities.

The document forwarded by the e-mail below will be posted and discussed tomorrow. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

From: McBee, Barry [mailto:bmcbee@utsystem.edu]
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 9:23 PM
To: 'Powers, Bill'; Daniel, David - UT Dallas; Spaniolo, James - UT Arlington; Natalicio, Diana - UT El Paso; Romo, Ricardo - UT San Antonio; Garcia, Juliet - UT Brownsville; Sorber, Charles - UTPA; Watts, David- UTPB; Mabry, Rodney - UT Tyler; Mendelsohn, John - UT MD Anderson; Calhoun, Kirk - UTHSCT; Callender, David L. UTMB; Podolsky, Daniel - UT Southwestern; Kaiser, Larry - UTHTMC; Henrich, William L
Subject: UT System Legislative Priorities Wrapup

 

The Senate and House have now adjourned sine die, in remarkable fashion, and so the Regular Session of the 81st Texas Legislature has come to a close.

 

Even as we contemplate what transpired on this eventful last day and over the last two unprecedented weeks, we should look back and review the last 140 days.

 

Any success of the System in the Legislature is always a team effort.  OGR has the pleasure of helping coordinate the overall activities, but the real work is carried out by our counterparts at each institution and by those at System and the institutions who diligently review and analyze the hundreds of bills – more than 2,700 in this Regular Session – that would affect the System and institutions.

 

At the beginning of the Session the System established a number of priority legislative issues. In reviewing the work of the past 20 weeks the record is solid as to what the Legislature did, or in some cases did not do, to address those priorities.  I have attached the outline of priorities that was initially developed and noted the outcomes of the legislative process within the document. 

 

We also sought to advance specific proposals that would benefit certain of our institutions, and were involved in broader discussions among all of the university systems to shape ideas in a way that protected the interests of all of higher education.  The following legislation in this vein passed:

 

·         SB 1812—protects from public disclosure information concerning the specific location of biological toxins and personal identifying information of faculty and employees working with those toxins, such as occurs at the Galveston National Laboratory

 

·         SB 2442—tax exemption for land leased by UT HSC Houston from Memorial Hermann Hospital

 

·         SB 98—sets a pathway for consideration by the Board of Regents to establish a new health science center and medical school in South Texas

 

·         HB 431—allows boards of regents to set new high performance, green building standards rather than have state-imposed standards

 

There were other issues facing the System during the Session that were of great importance, but which we did not identify as priorities, primarily because they required efforts on our part to educate members and staff about the severe unintended consequences of the proposals.  And during the course of any legislative session new issues unexpectedly arise, as they certainly did this time.  A list of these sorts of issues is found below; in each instance where a specific bill is noted it failed to make its way through the legislative process:

 

·         Permitting concealed handguns on campus (HB 1893/SB 1164)

 

·         Restrictions on stem cell research

o        Restrictions did not pass, and all we face is an interim study on the development of a research database that will include stem cell related research, and in which UT will have significant representation and input

 

·         Expanded Pension and investment Review Board oversight authority regarding investment of public funds (SB 1548)

 

·         Restructuring of  the governing board of UTIMCO (SB 2348)

 

·         Forcing disinvestment by UTIMCO of entities doing business in the Sudan (HB 801)

 

·         Limiting regental authority regarding the grant of easements on university lands (HB 4304)

 

·         Restricting exercise by universities of the power of eminent domain (SB 18)

 

·         Authority for the Board of Regents to make a decision on the grant of insurance and other benefits to domestic partners of faculty and staff

 

·         Changes to the eligibility criteria for TEXAS Grants that would have introduced a merit component, affecting large numbers of our students (SB 2084)

 

In addition to the issues noted on the System priorities that did not see passage, we failed to obtain a change in the laws governing conflicts of interest of regents that would have modernized and rationalized the laws.  The bills in which these changes were contained fell victim to the late-Session slowdown over the Voter ID legislation, but we have had good discussions with a potential author to pursue the legislation in the next session.

 

Of course passage by the Legislature of bills is only one step in the overall process of proposals becoming law.  During the next three weeks through June 20, the focus turns to Governor Perry, as in these three weeks he can consider vetoes of bills and of items of appropriation in both the general and supplemental appropriations acts.  To the extent appropriate and needed, we will be conferring with staff in the Governor’s Office to answer questions and present information.

 

At the conclusion of the veto period we will develop longer, more formal summaries of the results of the 81st Regular Session and will be making a presentation at the July Board of Regents meeting.  A more detailed document on System and institutions’ funding will be developed and distributed by the Controller’s Office and OGR at the conclusion of the veto period.  A much longer compendium of all legislation affecting higher education, which serves as a resource document for System and the institutions, is prepared by the Office of General Counsel and OGR and will be available in late summer.

The major open question is now not whether but when Governor Perry will exercise his constitutional authority to bring members back to Austin to address issues such as the continuation of the Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Department of Insurance.   There is no clear indication at this time of the Governor’s thinking on this matter, but there are systemic pressures given the statutory timeframes spelled out for agencies that face this prospect which could cause him to call such a special session sooner rather than later.  The issue then is what issues the Governor places on the call of the special session, as this frames but does not control the legislative debate and action.

LEVEL I TRAUMA CENTER BY JAN. 1ST?

The Daily Texan has also jumped in to trumpet UTMB's financial good fortune in an article titled "UTMB May Get Needed Funding."  The article devotes much of its word-count to a discussion of the Level I trauma center, with Eiland hoping for a January 1, 2010, reopening of UTMB's facility.  The Blogmeister hopes that can be achieved, but with a pack of administrators capable of running off 16 of 17 emergency room faculty, one has to wonder. Of course, with all this money coming UTMB's way, perhaps they'll just go out and buy those services from a contractor.   

"THE SCIENTIST" ON AAUP INVESTIGATION

Please see the 6/1/09 story by Elie Dolgin in The Scientist titled "Texas School under Investigation." UT is sticking by its wickedly clever, three-pronged defense against all charges: deny, deny, deny.  An excerpt:

Burgdorf said he expected the investigative action even before sending his written rebuttal to the AAUP's accusations in April. "What's happening here is that the AAUP doesn't want to ever see a professor terminated, so they're looking for any way they can to prevent that from ever happening," he said, noting that UT officials have not replied formally to the AAUP's May 12 letter announcing the move.

WILL PERRY SIGN BIOLAB BILL? PROBABLY.

The new Biolab public info bill being pushed by UTMB has never passed the smell test.  Officials have misled the public about the nature of requests for information and have never been able to show when the Texas Public Information Act ever failed to protect sensitive information--ever.  Even as amended, the Blogmeister suspects that John Q. Public's public servants have just slipped him a mickey.  Please see the 6/2/09 Galveston County Daily News article titled "Biolab Info Bill Awaiting Perry's Signature."  An excerpt:

But, opponents of the bill say the legislation is too broad. Texas laws already protect security-sensitive information and the medical branch can’t show how state codes have failed the Galveston National Laboratory.

Fred Hartman, chair of the legislative advisory committee for the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and the Texas Press Association, said the bill creates an unnecessary layer of secrecy.

He was holding out hope that Perry would veto the bill.

This bad, unnecessary bill, one UTMB officials have utterly failed to justify, has passed thru the legislature; it will likely be signed by Governor Perry at this point. 

 

 

$1.3 BILLION? MAKE THAT $1.4B!

Question: Why, in mercy's name, aren't RIF'd faculty being brought back? Something other than money is driving this administrator-enforced exodus. 

 

From: UTMB Broadcast Account
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 2:22 PM
Subject: UTMB receives strong support from Legislature

 

UTMB receives strong support from Legislature

 

The 81st Texas Legislative session — one of the most upbeat for UTMB in a decade — draws to a close at midnight tonight. All legislation directly affecting UTMB has been approved and awaits signature by Gov. Rick Perry.

 

Between the Legislature’s appropriations and the other funding made possible by those appropriations — $450 million from FEMA, $130 million from insurance proceeds, $200 million from The Sealy & Smith Foundation and $50 million from the Social Service Block Grant Funds — UTMB will have approximately $1.4 billion available for restoration and expansion of facilities and services in coming years.

 

“We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Legislature and executive branch of Texas government for their affirmation of the future of UTMB,” said Dr. Ben Raimer, UTMB’s senior vice president for health policy and legislative affairs.

 

Senate Bill 1, the budget bill for the biennium starting Sept. 1, was approved by the Senate and House on Saturday. It contains $566.5 million in general revenue funding for UTMB, an increase of nearly $109 million over the previous biennium (including an approximately $12 million increase in the formula strategies and a $97 million increase in health care operations — $1 million of which is dedicated to reopening the UTMB McAllen women’s cancer center that was closed after Hurricane Ike).

 

The Supplemental Appropriations Bill (HB 4586), which also was approved this weekend and makes funding available immediately, gives UTMB an additional $150 million to match FEMA’s $450 million for Ike-related mitigation and repairs. In addition, House Bill 51 — which was approved at 10:37 p.m. Sunday, just one and a half hours before the deadline for passing bills out of the House and just one day before the end of the session — authorizes $150 million in tuition revenue bonds for a new hospital building on the campus that will restore UTMB’s inpatient capacity to pre-Ike levels. This tuition revenue bond will match $200 million from The Sealy & Smith Foundation. 

 

Appropriations also were increased for correctional managed care. The Supplemental Appropriations bill added $48 million for the current biennium; $46.5 million goes to UTMB for costs sustained during FY 2008-09. These funds will be transferred to UTMB before Aug. 31, 2009. In addition, SB 1 increased next biennium’s correctional managed care funding by $92.5 million over the previous biennium, about $77 million of which will go for UTMB’s correctional managed care program.

 

Additional specifics

 

• Instead of changing the way the state handles UTMB’s payments under the federal Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) and Upper Payment Limit (UPL) programs, the Legislature gave UTMB a $96 million general revenue increase in appropriations. This funding represents a huge commitment on the part of the Legislature to UTMB’s recovery.

 

• UTMB will continue to be able to draw up to $10 million per year for indigent health care from unclaimed lottery funds.

 

• The $150 million tuition revenue bond authorization requires the Legislative Budget Board to consider Galveston County actions that would increase local funding for indigent care when the LBB approves release of funds to pay for the bonds. (Such actions can include raising the county indigent care program income eligibility level to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or creating a hospital district.)

 

• The Department of State Health Services received $3 million per year for expansion of diabetes programs in the Valley and Galveston, using UTMB’s Stark Diabetes Center model of services.

 

• UTMB is receiving approximately $17 million annually in new federal funding due to recent approval by the federal government of a Medicaid graduate medical education program for state-owned hospitals that had been authorized by the previous Legislature.

 

 

Office of Public Affairs

public.affairs@utmb.edu

 

UTMB RIF APPEAL RESULTS REQUESTED

Readers, particularly RIF appellants, need to know that the Blogmeister requested, just this morning, all RIF appeal hearing results and all of President Callender's decisions based on those results.  Please be assured that I will not post any individual's documentation without gaining permission from that person beforehand, as I did with Dr. Chuck Holzer.  I have requested these records so that we may compile aggregate results and share them with the public; otherwise, it is very likely that the public would never know how appellants, overall, fared, although UTMB has been known to release information publicly after the Blogmeister has asked for information. 

UTMB FUNDING MAKES IT TO GOV. PERRY'S DESK

Dallas Morning News, 6/1/2009: It appears that the state's portion of UTMB's $1.3 billion funding package survived in one form or another and is now on the way to the guv.  "Bill for More Tier 1 Universities Heads for Governor's Signature." Note that UTMB does not number among the 7 universities competing for tier 1 status listed in the article. 

Marshall Messenger, 5/31/09: $150 million tuition revenue bond, Plan B after $150 million in appropriated funding cut, was in trouble for a while.  "Top Tier, Health Benefits, UTMB in Play"

UTHSC HOUSTON GETS $6 MILLION FOR TRAUMA CARE

Please see "Houston Gets Trauma Funds over Protest" in the 5/29/09 on-line edition of the Houston Chronicle.  An excerpt:

State lawmakers passed a disaster relief bill that includes $6 million for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, disregarding the trauma leader’s complaint that the appropriation set a “bad precedent” because the money comes from a pot that’s supposed to be spread among emergency rooms throughout the state.

The article goes on to say that UTMB hopes to reopen its emergency room by August 1, 2009.  Since administrators RIF'd or managed to run off 16 of 17 emergency room faculty, speculation is that they'll have to find a contractor to run the emergency room.  That may well cause some accreditation headaches for UTMB down the line, as well. 

 

RIF APPEAL UPDATE 5/30/09

The RIF appeals are about over now.  The Blogmeister hears that 27 of the 30 appellants who managed to hang in there have now had their hearings before UTMB's all-management, hand-picked hearing panels.  Despite an obvious effort to load the dice, rumor has it that administration is a bit concerned about hearing panel members because it seems that even they, managers presumably predisposed to see things management's way, have strayed from their pre-charted path a little more often than management would have liked.  At least in one case, the panel sided with the appellant and voted that there was no financial exigency. 

Of my own six cases, five have had hearings, as I've reported earlier, and we're in a wrestling match with UT attorneys (you know, the guys from that separate legal entity in Austin who are doing UTMB's legal work) over the date for the final hearing.  Having narrowed the arguments to only two by policy (Regents Rule 31003), hand-picked the hearing panels, and given President Callender the authority to utterly disregard any panel recommendations anyway, one would think that the least they could do is give us the date we need so our witnesses and the Blogmeister can show up.  We'll see how it goes. 

Meanwhile, appellants are beginning to get their notifications of President Callender's final decision.  As might be expected, the results are overwhelmingly negative from what I've been able to gather.  I have heard back on three of my own cases, and only one of them resulted in a reinstatement. 

Stay tuned.

 

SEN. HINOJOSA SUCCEEDS IN REOPENING MCALLEN CANCER CLINIC

In its tireless efforts to shut out the uninsured and poor, UTMB, having cut off care to the uninsured in Galveston well before Ike, closed down the McAllen Cancer Clinic after Ike, enraging area officials, not the least of whom was powerful Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, who worked closely with State Rep. Veronica Gonzales during the current legislative session and successfully fought for $1 million in funding for the center's reopening.  In a 5/30/09 Rio Grande Guardian article titled "Hinojosa: McAllen Cancer Clinic to Reopen Thanks to $1 Million in State Funding," one searches in vain to find any mention of UTMB's heavy hearts having fought for a nickel to reopen the clinic and save the lives of those who could otherwise not afford care.  When corporate-style managers and accountants take over, some lives are just worth more than others, it appears. 

CHARLES "CHUCK" HOLZER'S RIF APPEAL DENIED

UTMB President David Callender's latest "everything's coming up roses" missive, linked below, mentions the emergence of "everyday heroism" in the aftermath of Ike. 

Download Callender-Employees Rosy Pic 090500

At long last, the Blogmeister and Callender agree on something.  One of the heroes who has emerged in the aftermath of Ike is Dr. Charles "Chuck" Holzer, formerly a researcher in UTMB's Department of Psychiatry, the same department whose vice chair is up to her neck in ethics trouble. 

This consummate citizen of the academic community realized from the outset that he was defending far more than himself and that what he did could well affect many others and even the status of tenure itself in Texas.  After focusing his bulldog determination and formidable research skills on the various issues involved in UTMB's excuses for conducting the RIF, the RIF process itself, and his own department's reasoning for the misguided decision to terminate him, he courageously posted all of his materials, well before his hearing, on the Internet.  This could not have made administrators, people like Dr. Callender, who had the final say in Dr. Holzer's termination appeal, happy.  He posted it anyway, however, because he knew it could help many, many others who were appealing and also inform those watching events unfold at UTMB.  After his hearing, he even posted a full recording of his hearing on the Internet, which, again, could not have made UT or UTMB officials happy.  Chuck Holzer is one of the few people the Blogmeister has met who chose the greater good over his own professional welfare.  Chuck Holzer is a hero. 

Read Callender's letter supporting his all-management hearing panel's recommendation to deny this good man's appeal:

Download Callender-Holzer Denial 090521R

MONEY STILL ROLLING IN TO UTMB

Please see "US Adds $19.5M to Ike, Gustav to Recovery" in the 5/28/09 on-line edition of the Houston Chronicle.  An excerpt:

Nearly half of the money, about $10 million, is for building improvements needed at University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston's biomedical incubator.

UTMB SET TO GET $1.3 BILLION

The following is the text of an e-mail from UTMB Senior Vice President Ben Raimer detailing UTMB's expectation of receiving roughly $1.3 billion from federal, state, and other sources.  Note that this includes money for revenue losses and increased funding for operations.  At RIF'd faculty appeal hearings, UT attorneys, buttressed by the testimony of School of Medicine CFO Cameron Slocum,  have always drawn a fine line between operations and all other expenses such as capital and depreciation.  The funding UTMB now stands to receive largely pulls the rug from under the argument that UTMB doesn't have the operating money to hang onto RIF'd faculty, not that the Blogmeister expects officials to openly admit that.  Let us remember that, at least for the tenured RIF'd faculty, UTMB is paying those RIF'd right up until August 31, 2009.  Much of this new funding will kick in the very next day, September 1, 2009. 

Assuming there ever was one, there's no need to cut faculty, particularly tenured faculty, now.  If they allow these cuts to happen, the RIF be exposed for what it was and is: about something other than money. 

From: Schlobohm, Mary A.
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:10 AM
To: [Addressees redacted]
Cc: [Addressees redacted]
Subject: Conference Committee Action 20 May 2009

SENT ON BEHALF OF
Ben G. Raimer, MD FAAP
Senior Vice President, UTMB
Health Policy and Legislative Affairs

Subject: Joint Conference Committee Action tonight
The House-Senate Joint Conference Committee met tonight for the finalization of Senate Bill 1 (Budget).  Related to UTMB, the following was passed unanimously:

1.  JCC approved an increase of $97 million in GR funding to UTMB for operations.
2.  A Rider to the bill stipulated that $1 million will be utilized to re-open the Dysplasia Clinic in McAllen.
3.  No "exceptional items" were approved for UTMB
4.  It is our understanding that a statutory change will be passed that specifies that DSHUPL earned by UTMB will be directed to return to the instiution and NOT counted in the revenue estimate by the Comptroller in future years.
5.  Furthermore, it is our understanding that UTMB's increase in base funding will be sustained in the future with UTMB being permitted to draw down the new $97 million and/or DSHUPL, whichever is the highest in the future.

This action will be forwarded to the House and Senate for final approval in the FY 10-11 budget.

Action taken tonight is the fifth in a series of highly desirable outcomes toward UTMB's complete restoration.
1.  Approval of $150 million from the state to match the $450 million in available FEMA funding
2.  Approval of $150 million from the state toward the construction of a new hospital facility, to be matched by $200 million in funding from the Sealy and Smith Foundation as well as $170 million in UTMB/UT System indebtedness.
3.  Approval of $50 million in Social Services Block Grant Funding (SSBG) toward the reduction of losses sustained by UTMB during business interruption secondary to Hurricane IKE
4.  Approval of $97 million for the biennium in annual operating revenues for UTMB in the future.
5.  Approval of formula funding ($13 million) and Medicaid GME ($17 million) for a total of $30 million.

These actions plus UTMB / UT System's insurance proceeds should provide approximately $1.3 billion in resources for the reconstruction and operation of the Galveston campus.

We also anticipate $93 million in increased funding for the correctional health care program (prison) and a $41 million supplemental appropriations for incurred losses in FY 08 - 09.

The legislative team, working closely with the joint conference committee and Speaker Pro Tem Eiland, will be on the alert for any changes that could come through rider or amendment to these actions.  We anticipate that the House and Senate will affirm these actions and close out Senate Bill 1 in the very near future.

There are numerous people who "are" a part of this process -- far too many to name.  The cry "the University of Texas stops for no storm" has become the matra [sic] for countless people across the state, and fortunately for us, for those in the legislature who want to validate that the state's first medical school and assure that it continues its 110 year tradition of educating some of the best health care professionals in this county.

It is my hope that you will take time to write the members of the joint conference committee and the executive branches of state government to let them know your appreciation for the vote of confidence that they have expressed in this process.  It goes with [sic] saying that all of us own a special "thank you" to Speaker Craig Eiland, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden and his chief of staff Daniel Harper for their belief in the future of UTMB.

BGR

Ben G. Raimer, MD FAAP
Senior Vice President, UTMB
Health Policy and Legislative Affairs