From Greg Ortiz UNMH:
FYI. Please share with fellow Governors, Tribal Councils. Our AIPC, Southern Governors and Eight Northern Governors have supported with letters to Regent Jack Fortner. The Mill Levy is what finances the hospital which provides accommodation of the 1952 Federal Contract of 100 Beds for Native American/Pueblos.
By contrast and disregard, Lovelace Hospital (and their supporters) continue to "oppose" the UNM Hospital expansion while aggressively seeking to wrest the Mill Levy from the hospital.
Respectfully, encourage your network to continue support of the UNM Hospital-96 Adult Bed Expansion.
Now the struggle begins.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Greg
Many of you may have seen both in news stories and an Op-Ed written by Ron Stern last Sunday in the Albuquerque Journal, with Lovelace Health System is opposing UNM plans for a possible expansion of our hospital beds and suggesting dramatic changes in the Mil Levy. Lovelace has suggested that UNMH enter into a “bed-sharing” agreement with Lovelace and that Mil Levy funds, contrary to what the voters approved and what the law requires, be made available to Lovelace facilities strictly for Indigent care.
Lovelace did not discuss this bed sharing proposal with us prior to release of their proposal to the press.
The issue of access is multi-faceted. Most of UNMH patients are very complicated and require many different specialists and sub-specialists to treat them. Many of the hospitals’ professional staff have very special and unique skills that are not readily available at all the other facilities in the state. Many of the UNMH programs in Trauma, Children, Cancer, Neurology, High-Risk Maternity, Burn, Adult Critical Care, and Children's Critical Care have been developed over decades and are not easily replicable. We maintain our Trauma Level One capability 24/7, 365 days a year. The outcomes from our programs are closely evaluated and are among the best of all the teaching hospitals in the country. The teaching programs at UNMH are integrated into the care programs. Many of the programs have research at their core, and that leads to cutting-edge care.
But, let no one think for a moment that our mission has changed or our dedication has ever wavered. Our first and most important responsibility is and will always be to make sure all UNMH patients have the best-available care they need when they need it. Patient choice is also a very important right of all our patients. We will continue to honor that right. Many patients with health plans that offer a choice to use other hospitals in town continue to choose to receive their care from UNMH. We will continue to honor the choices made by our patients.
The issue of access is multi-faceted. Most of UNMH patients are very complicated and require many different specialists and sub-specialists to treat them. Many of the hospitals’ professional staff have very special and unique skills that are not readily available at all the other facilities in the state. Many of the UNMH programs in Trauma, Children, Cancer, Neurology, High-Risk Maternity, Burn, Adult Critical Care, and Children's Critical Care have been developed over decades and are not easily replicable. We maintain our Trauma Level One capability 24/7, 365 days a year. The outcomes from our programs are closely evaluated and are among the best of all the teaching hospitals in the country. The teaching programs at UNMH are integrated into the care programs. Many of the programs have research at their core, and that leads to cutting-edge care.
But, let no one think for a moment that our mission has changed or our dedication has ever wavered. Our first and most important responsibility is and will always be to make sure all UNMH patients have the best-available care they need when they need it. Patient choice is also a very important right of all our patients. We will continue to honor that right. Many patients with health plans that offer a choice to use other hospitals in town continue to choose to receive their care from UNMH. We will continue to honor the choices made by our patients.
It is our intent to correct the record: We will do this by:
1. Issuing a release stating our intentions not to let false and misleading statements stand
2. Launch a “set the record straight” website
3. Submit guest columns and letters to the editor
4. Engage social media
5. Create a Speakers Bureau
Over the years we have created a Speaker’s Bureau to help educate our community on the work we do. Our Speakers volunteer to speak on our behalf and answer questions at community meetings here in Albuquerque and around the state. In these challenging times when so much is changing around us, it is time to organize and activate a Speaker’s Bureau again. Remember your story in your own words needs to be shared in the community.
Social media now plays a key role and sometimes is the only media read. Rumors quickly become facts and facts too often get lost in the haze of response. We need to be present here with our story. So if you are more comfortable commenting in social media than speaking, please join us. All your efforts are appreciated. I want to ask all those who wish to be part of this effort to contact me and our Communications Department to sign up. You may contact my office at 272-5849 or Billy Sparks at wsparks@salud.unm.edu. We will work with you to help focus our efforts. We can no longer allow others to distort the facts and undermine what so many of us have worked so hard to build.
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