Hospital sought bonds to refinance debt, renovate and expand VBMC-Brownsville

Valley Baptist Medical System felt the push of its peers this week when it was denied permission to secure bond money for improvements to its Brownsville hospital, via city-sanctioned financing.

Valley Baptist asked the city to authorize the Brownsville Health Facilities Development Corp., a financing mechanism for nonprofits to expand and improve local health care.

Valley Baptist sought to secure $94 million in bonds to refinance debt, renovate and expand the operating room, telemetry and surgical patient units at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville.

The hospital was also looking to replace its MRI system and the hospital’s fire panel, improve utilities, renovate children’s services and the nurse call system. Upgrades to restrooms and services to new mothers and their children were also listed improvements.

Valley Baptist representatives on Tuesday failed to gain support from a divided City Commission that cited pressure from local doctors that felt this aid to Valley Baptist would be an unfair advantage.

Approving the request would have been at no cost or liability to the city.

Commissioners Anthony P. Troiani and Edward C. Camarillo voted in favor of approving the request, citing the need for improved hospital services.

Commissioners Leo Garza, Carlos Cisneros, and Charlie Atkinson voted against the measure. Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. abstained even though, he said that “in principle, I support it.”

Commissioner Ricardo Longoria Jr. was absent from the meeting.

Troiani called its defeat an unnecessary “roadblock,” probably caused by what the mayor called a “great fear, founded or unfounded” among non-Valley Baptist doctors and surgeons.

Atkinson said he heard from several doctors that are yet unnamed because, he said, they “fear retaliation.”

The commissioner did not say from whom or what they feared reprisal, or why, only that: “There are many of them … They are pushing the fact that the city shouldn’t be involved in competition between Valley Baptist, Valley Regional and Brownsville Surgical Hospital (aka Brownsville Doctors Hospital).

“They want the city to stay out of the competition,” Atkinson said.

Representatives from Valley Regional or Brownsville Doctors Hospital were not available to comment for this article.

Valley Baptist Health Systems operates two hospitals, a retirement home and health center in Brownsville and Harlingen. The concern, Atkinson said, is that the system would monopolize health care here, “like they did in Harlingen.”

Valley Regional is affiliated with Nashville-based Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), which owns 279 hospitals and surgery centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. Doctors Hospital is owned by various area physicians.

Troiani pointed out that HCA is a national corporation, not a mom-and-pop outfit fighting Valley Baptist as Goliath. “At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s about taking care of our people.”

Doctors Roberto Robles, Rafael Arredondo and Lorenzo Pelly spoke at Tuesday’s meeting. They have hospital privileges at both Valley Baptist and Valley Regional in Brownsville.

Robles suggested that the concerns arise from the fact that the prior operators of what is now VBMC in Brownsville, formerly Brownsville Medical Center, left the hospital, “in shambles.”

Robles said Valley Baptist has worked hard to improve the facility and urged the commission to put “the people” before any special interest group or individual.

Arredondo said he’s been careful to divide his patients between both facilities and noted the importance of maintaining a balance.

He’s also concerned for small clinics that are struggling to continue providing services, he said.

Pelly said Valley Baptist has been investing in quality health care and agreed with his colleagues who suggested that a similar gesture of support for Valley Regional would be best for all

Atkinson said Friday that access to the Brownsville Health Facilities Development Corp. is not available to for-profit hospitals, including Valley Regional.

In Valley Baptist’s presentation Tuesday, CEO Leslie Bingham pointed out that the hospital’s previous owner paid $640,000 in property taxes annually and Valley Baptist pays $426,000 per year.

Valley Baptist also provides charity care, she said, including $50 million of the $63.1 million spent by Brownsville hospitals in 2005.

“This is reflective of Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville’s mission as a not-for-profit hospital,” Bingham said.

And though the mayor did not support the measure, he chastised Atkinson for meeting with Valley Baptist represenatives prior to the meeting to discuss a possible provision for a city ambulance during negotiations.

The mayor said the commission exists to provide services, “without strings attached.”

Atkinson said Friday that the idea to possibly secure an ambulance from Valley Baptist came from city staff, “and I threw it out there. My interest is the city’s interest.”