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New USF hospital wrong on all counts
A Times Editorial
Published February 18, 2008
Now is not the time to consider building a new teaching hospital at the University of South Florida. State and local governments are cutting billions in spending. Universities, including USF, are turning away students and imposing hiring freezes. The housing market is stalled, and the economy is flirting with a recession. What Floridians want is for their leaders to set appropriate priorities and spend declining public resources on the most pressing priorities. A USF hospital fails on both counts.
Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, filed legislation that would clear the way for medical schools in Florida to exempt themselves from the state's certificate of need, or CON, process, a regulatory requirement for all new hospitals. While the legislation would be only a first step, it would remove a major barrier by allowing the university to lobby for a hospital while avoiding the most important criterion: need. While the CON process takes time and can slow the response to a community's evolving health care needs, the purpose behind it is sound. The market demand for an expensive new facility, particularly one built with public dollars, should be demonstrated before allowing construction to proceed.
Put aside, for a moment, whether USF needs its own hospital. Jones' bill would cause havoc with health care planning. Giving USF or other medical schools a freebie on certifying need only invites a rush toward empire-building. The big losers would be those public charity care hospitals that would see the more lucrative sides of their business pulled away - private-paying and insured patients whose revenue helps general hospitals' subsidized care for the poor. CONs are essential - especially when it is a state university asking the state to get into the hospital business.
Advocates argue the hospital would raise USF's profile, enable it to attract more prominent faculty and generate money for health services outside the state budget. Those are worthy goals. But building a new hospital, particularly now, is an inefficient way to accomplish them. Why not expand residencies with USF's existing hospital partners? USF's main teaching hospital, Tampa General, is a recognized leader nationally in trauma, transplant, nursing care and other services. It is about as close to a university teaching hospital as USF could want. The growth of biotech and medical services and research in the Tampa Bay area also puts USF in place to raise its international stature.
The financial issues also are a concern. The Florida Hospital Association, which opposes Jones' legislation, estimates that a new full-service hospital costs $2-million per bed. USF envisions a 200-bed facility. The state does not have that kind of money lying around. Neither does this community.
In concept, there may be merit in a university teaching hospital. There is the value of having academic excellence associated with a university's name, and USF's medical school has trained some of the area's finest physicians. But the issue here seems to be more about independence and self-image than medical necessity, and the timing is all wrong.
If USF wants its own teaching hospital, it is going to have to wait for a better economic climate and it is going to have to play by the regulatory rules.
[Last modified February 17, 2008, 21:43:41]
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