by Manuelita Beck
Daily Lobo
Bids are due back today for the construction of UNMH Children's Hospital and Critical Care Pavilion.
According to Sam Giammo, the UNM Health Sciences Center director of public affairs, the hospital will choose a bid in mid-July. Construction is slated to begin in early fall.
The hurdles
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So far, the project has passed a couple of hurdles. Local construction companies objected to a UNM Board of Regents decision to unionize the construction.
UNM also had to amend its lease agreement with Bernalillo County in order to seek a mortgage from the Federal Housing Authority. UNM leases land for the hospital from the county for $1 a year.
Because a portion of the new facility will sit on American-Indian land as well as UNM and county land, the University needed to amend its contract with Indian Health Services, Giammo said.
IHS is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. It has a congressional contract with the county for the care of American-Indian residents of Bernalillo County.
UNM's contract with IHS dates back to 1954. Both share in the care of American Indians, although IHS is considered the first resource, said Maria Rickert, acting chief executive officer of IHS's Albuquerque Service Unit.
The agreement
According to the new agreement reached between IHS and the University, indigent American Indians who are Bernalillo County residents will be eligible for the same financial assistance other indigent county residents are.
Rickert said Native Americans who are "dual-eligible" and qualify for both county financial assistance and IHS services should have access to the county assistance.
"They should be treated equally and not separated out," she said.
The agreement comes at a time when the IHS Albuquerque Service Unit receives less money from the federal government despite a growing population of patients.
Rickert said based on IHS records, its patient pool increases by about 2,000 people a year.
The Albuquerque Service Unit, however, only receives 44 percent of the money allocated for this area. The other 56 percent goes to tribes who operate their own hospitals under Public Law 93638, a federal self-determination law.
"We're left with the same population, the same workload to meet, with less money," Rickert said. "It's just a total lack of funding."
UNM will also appoint a Pueblo Indian recommended by the All Indian Pueblo Council to the HSC Clinical Operations Board.
The agreement also says UNMH will have a patient scheduling coordinator who will facilitate hospital admissions and outpatient appointments for eligible American Indians.
Rickert said she doesn't know why such a position didn't exist before. She said it has helped IHS and UNMH understand each other's policies.
"It's educational for both of us," she said.
Steve McKernan, chief executive officer of UNMH, said the agreement was a positive development.
"This actually gave us the opportunity to clarify how the hospital will work with IHS and the Native-American community," he said.
Attorneys at the Office of General Counsel are reviewing the agreement before Charles Grim, director for IHS, signs it.
The construction project
The Commission on Higher Education approved the UNMH expansion project last week, which now has to go before the Legislative Finance Committee.
The expansion includes a new trauma center, emergency room and labor and delivery units. The emergency room will be 40 percent larger, and the trauma unit stations will be expanded from two to six. Two of the six floors will make up the Children's Hospital.
Giammo said the project, with its plans for larger room sizes, meets the needs of a teaching hospital.
"When you have an attending physician and students, it really crowds the room," he said. "The new facility will be a state-of-the-art facility that will allow us to use the most up-to-date equipment."
The west wing was built in 1954.
Giammo estimated the project will have a 30-month building cycle and will be completed in early 2007.
He said the construction would cost $183 million, with the total cost of the project, adding up to $223 million.
The project is funded by $40 million in cigarette tax revenue from the Legislature and issue bonds from the Federal Housing Authority.
