UT Board Commits $30 million Annually to Launch Austin Medical School

By State Senator Kirk Watson Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The Board of Regents for the University of Texas System voted last week to commit 10s of millions of dollars a year to a medical school in Austin. That means were close closer than weve ever been to delivering this community a medical school and the wealth of health care and economic resources that come with it. So todays a big day in the history of Austin and Central Texas.  It shows that our new playbook one that relies on innovative public-private partnerships the coordination of resources and a ton of creativity and hard work is working. Really this whole effort has been about building a bridge to a modern health care system and economy. And this Board of Regents vote along with announcements last week of plans for a state-of-the-art teaching hospital and a new agreement transforming the way health care is delivered in this community puts us most of the way toward completing that bridge. Its up to us to finish the job because as you know an unfinished bridge leads nowhere. Well be talking more in the coming weeks about the next last steps toward completing this transformative work for our health our families and our economy. When were finished it will mean not just a medical school and teaching hospital but also:

• Modern health clinics tailored to our unique needs and neighborhoods.
•  New research assets that will power the Central Texas economy for generations.
• New cancer treatment and research facilities that will make Austin a center for comprehensive cancer care.
• New badly needed resources to help those with mental and behavioral health issues.

All of these things are among the 10 Goals in 10 Years that Ive set out for our community. You can learn more about those goals and sign up to help achieve them at www.healthyatx.org. Finally youll find below a memo Ive sent to the Organizing Committee that I put together to help work on the 10-in-10 Goals. It describes in more detail what happened today and what it means. As I say there thanks to the help work and dedication of this community Im as confident as Ive ever been that were going to succeed.

Memo to 10 in 10 Organizing Committee Dear Organizing Committee members Today the University of Texas System Board of Regents passed a resolution committing tens of millions of additional dollars every year to support the launch operation and staffing of a medical school in Austin.  The resolution dedicates $30 million annually through the start up years with a continued yearly commitment of $25 million beyond. This is an exciting extraordinary vote that will help define Austin as a center for 21st Century health care excellence. Its a huge step toward completing the bridge weve been building to a healthier more prosperous future. And its a definitive statement that the University of Texas System is dedicated not only to a medical school in Austin but also to the unique new community partnership weve launched to make it happen. As you know this vote comes less than two weeks after the Seton Healthcare Family preliminarily committed up to $250 million toward the construction of a modern teaching hospital that will replace University Medical Center Brackenridge. It also comes on the heels of a Letter of Intent between Central Health (the Travis County health care district) and Seton to modernize and upgrade the communitys long-time public/private partnership serving our safety net population. This historic agreement when complete should ensure that more people have greater access to better health care and it may allow the community to better take advantage of tens of millions of federal dollars under the 1115 Medicaid Waiver. Together these developments:

• Represent essential pillars in our collaborative community effort to build not just a medical school and teaching hospital but also modern health clinics tailored to our unique needs and neighborhoods; new research assets that will power our economy; new facilities that will make Austin a center for comprehensive cancer care; new mental and behavioral health care resources; and other facets of our 10 Goals in 10 Years.
• Show that our new model for achieving the 10 in 10 Goals and creating these investments is working. With this vote the Regents join a diverse collection of partners public and private thats banded together to assess existing resources that can be used to create a medical school and other health care assets; break down silos impeding coordination of those resources; size-up the gap between the funds we have and those we need to complete the 10 in 10 Goals; and figure out ways to bridge that gap. Each of you through your work on this committee is part of this growing partnership and you know particularly in light of the Regents decision how successful its proving to be.
• Clarify what the remaining funding gap looks like. As Ive said from the very beginning of this process the people of Austin and Travis County cant be expected to build a medical school or the other health care assets without a substantial commitment from community partners. Well those partners including Seton and the UT System have stepped up in a dramatic way dedicating an extraordinarily high percentage of the resources well need to meet the communitys goals.
• The Regents decision is contingent on a match of $35 million per year on average from other partners or sources. We can think of this new commitment of money as part of a larger and beneficial matching fund because the investment of $35 million will draw down hundreds of millions of dollars in resources from the UT System its institutions Seton and other sources that have been identified to fund the medical school.

It will also create massive economic benefits across the region be the cornerstone of a new economy and quality of life in Austin and meet many of the goals embodied in the 10 in 10. And frankly the opportunity costs of failure are imposing. If we dont make this investment well lose the health and economic benefits that are now within our reach and end up with the same unmet needs that this community already knows too well. (Similarly the Board of Regents today laudably resolved to support funding of an equally badly needed medical school in South Texas.  The support is contingent on that region continuing to make progress on medical residency slots and revenue streams to help fund the school. Again this demonstrates the new playbook one that relies in part on locally organized public/private partnerships for creating medical schools in Texas.) This local funding can take a number of forms including philanthropy taxes and assessments and well be working over the coming weeks to flesh out how that participation should look and what proportion of it should be borne by different interests. But we now see what weve always known: by using a new model of community collaboration and leveraging some of our extraordinary resources to attract funds from a multitude of sources we can achieve our very big goals and complete a bridge to a medical school and modern health care system. More than that with this latest commitment we now have the resources to build most of that bridge. Its up to us as members of this committee and citizens of this community to maintain the momentum continue the really good work thats been done and close the remaining gap. If we do that well create transformative change both in the economic health of this region and in the physical and mental health of people in every part this community. Well connect medical students and researchers with work thats already going on at the University of Texas and well direct those discoveries toward patients at a new state-of-the-art hospital who need them. Well ensure that Central Texans get the treatment they require right here at home alleviating the need to travel to Dallas Houston or far-off cities that already experience the benefits of medical education. Well train the doctors we know we need to care for a growing population and well keep them in the region just as other communities with medical schools and teaching hospitals have. And acting in unity and shared vision well create 15000 permanent jobs and close to $2 billion in economic activity; expand access and options for treating the uninsured; and provide new therapies designed to improve the health of everyone in this region. I want to thank Chairman Powell the Board of Regents Chancellor Cigarroa Executive Vice Chancellor Shine Vice Chancellor and Counsel Shaw-Thomas Dean Cox President Powers Vice President & Provost Leslie and many others at the University of Texas System UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Austin for their hard work creativity and dedication to their institutions and to this community. They have done an enormous amount of work and made an equally large commitment to help us get where we want to go. Now we have to finish the job. Were close and were succeeding. Thanks to the help work and dedication of this committee and people across this community Im as confident as Ive ever been that we will.