Transcript HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP

HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Suggested Initiatives, Strategies,
Objectives and Projects
Community Economic Development Forum
September 8, 2007
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Members
Elena Marin, M.D.
Executive Director
Su Clinica Familiar
Adela Valdez, M.D.
Assistant Dean of Education
UTHSCSA Regional Academic Health
Center
Armando Elizarde
Builder/Developer
Director, Harlingen EDC
Bill Burns
Interim CEO
Harlingen Medical Center
James G. Springfield
President & CEO
Valley Baptist Health System
R. K. Whittington
Attorney
Former Mayor of Harlingen
Why Healthcare
as Economic Development Strategy?
Harlingen has been the medical center and “go to”
place for state of the art and quality health care in
the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas.
Even before the RAHC, every recent long-range
strategic plan for the economic development of
Harlingen has identified healthcare as a potential
“industry” or “cluster” to be nurtured and
encouraged.
OTHER TEXAS CITIES
HAVE BUILT DYNAMIC ECONOMIES
ON A HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY FOUNDATION
Advocates for healthcare as a stimulus for the
creation of jobs and capital investment in
Harlingen often point to the dramatic story of the
University of Texas Health Science Center in San
Antonio (UTHSCSA) and its multi-billion dollar per
year impact on that city’s economy.
Harlingen has a head start on where San Antonio
and other cities began because of our existing
assets. The healthcare industry and related
businesses are already a major generator of jobs,
capital investment, and tax revenue in our
community.
In 1960, the UTHSCSA site in San
Antonio was nothing more than 2 silos
and cotton fields …
… and a VISION
By 2007, UTHSCSA has become a world-class
medical school and health science center and
the core of a multi-billion dollar economic center
of medical treatment, education and research.
UTHSCSA Campus in San Antonio
The healthcare industry in San Antonio
has surpassed the military and tourism
as the region’s largest business sector.
Harlingen has
more than silos
and open fields
to build on ……….
Valley Baptist Health System Campus
Su Clinica Familiar
Harlingen Clinic
Harlingen Medical Center
These three Harlingen institutions alone -- Valley Baptist Medical
Center, Harlingen Medical Center, and Su Clinica Familiar -- employ
over 3,470 persons with an annual payroll of almost $180 million.
Most of those jobs are for highly trained and educated and well paid
medical professionals and paraprofessionals.
Employer
# of Jobs
Annual Payroll
2,720
$138,803,615
Harlingen Medical
Center
465
$26,500,000
Su Clinica Familiar
285
$13,477,887
Valley Baptist Health
System
HOSPITALS AND CLINICS ARE ONLY
THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG ……………..
More than 300 physicians practice in Harlingen. Each
generates on average 3-4 more support jobs – a total
of 1,200 to 1,500 employees
In addition to those “direct” jobs, Harlingen is the
home of numerous other healthcare-related
businesses and suppliers – home health agencies,
physical therapy clinics, pharmacies, etc. – which
provide hundreds if not thousands of job opportunities
for our community
Healthcare jobs are among the highest paid
professions
UTHSCSA Regional
Academic Health Center
Harlingen is the only city its size
in Texas with an upper level
medical school
There is no doubt that an
emergent medical center -focused on quality healthcare,
high-level academic and
education endeavors, and
related clinical research –- can
result in a major economic
impact with high return on
investment for our community.
In less than a decade, the
direct and indirect impact of
the RAHC, even in its infancy,
on the development of
Harlingen’s already growing
medical community is
apparent.
The recent announcement of
a 158,000 square foot South
Texas VA Health Care Center
(veterans’ outpatient
facility) is just one example.
Su Clinica Familiar
Community Partner in Healthcare,
Education & Economy
Established in 1971, Su Clinica Familiar’s
mission is to heal and comfort those individuals
lacking access to comprehensive health care
and support services -- over 25,000 patients
and growing.
Since 1998, Su Clinica Familiar has been one of
the principal education partners of UTHSCSA
providing frontline outpatient clinical training
for almost 300 RAHC students and residents as
well as 150+ dental students and 220+ allied
health students.
With 320 total employees
(186 living in Harlingen), an
average annual wage of
$34,786 and no minimum
wage employees, Su Clinica
Familiar provides excellent
job opportunities and has a
positive and total economic
impact in Harlingen in excess
of $28 million per year.
Our group has focused on ideas for initiatives and projects which might
capitalize on Harlingen’s existing assets in the healthcare field as well as
the potential for enhancement of those assets. Our goal is to stimulate
additional ideas from our medical stakeholders and the community at
large. Some of those initiatives and projects are as follows:
 Permanent Healthcare Strategic Economic Development Group
 Strategic Plan for Future Growth and Expansion of the RAHC
 Pilot program in Harlingen for Clinical Training of Registered Nurses
 Expansion of Su Clinica Familiar facilities and services in Harlingen
 Creation of Rio Grande Valley Health Policy Institute at the RAHC in
Harlingen
 Creation of local foundation for RAHC scholarships and faculty endowments
 Task Force for Valley-wide transportation system
HEALTHCARE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Creation of a permanent HEALTHCARE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT
GROUP consisting of members from the community’s healthcare
stakeholders (i.e., hospitals, clinics, physicians, allied medical
professionals, home health businesses), as well as persons with
interest and expertise in economic development. The mission of
the Task Force would be to develop and maintain a database on
healthcare demographics in our community, foster a thorough
understanding of and “mind-set” for economic development
opportunities in healthcare and related education and research
activities, and constantly focus on Harlingen’s healthcare
“industry” and assets and to develop consensus strategies for
continued development and improvement including geographic
master planning, public/private partnerships, and potential for
integrated financing concepts.
RAHC GROWTH AND EXPANSION PLAN
Development and implementation of a strategic plan for the
future growth and development of the RAHC including beneficial
use of the remaining financial commitment from the Harlingen
EDC and a plan to acquire and dedicate additional land for the
future expansion of the RAHC campus and related facilities and
programs into a complex for academic, research, and healthcare
activities (the “seed” for a future medical school with a full range
of undergraduate and graduate training programs and ultimately
for a health science center in Harlingen and the Rio Grande
Valley).
RN CLINICAL TRAINING PILOT PROGRAM
Using existing academic programs at higher education institutions in
Cameron and Hidalgo counties, if possible, to promote and
implement an innovative pilot program sanctioned by the Texas
Board of Nurse Examiners (and mandated by the Texas Legislature if
necessary) for the clinical training of registered nurses under the
supervision of baccalaureate degree nurse educators (rather than
master degree nurses). The pilot program could be a joint venture
between Harlingen’s existing hospitals which would serve as at least
two of the major clinical training sites as well as beneficiary
employers of the graduating Registered Nurses.
SU CLINICA FAMILIAR EXPANSION
Through economic incentives for necessary infrastructure from the
Harlingen EDC (4A funds), support and assist a much needed
expansion of existing facilities and services at Su Clinica Familiar’s
outpatient clinic in Harlingen. Su Clinica Familiar currently serves
in excess of 25,000 patients through 112,000+ clinic visits a year.
Eighty-five percent (85%) of that activity occurs in Harlingen and
the immediately surrounding area and is supported by Harlingen
vendors and suppliers.
RGV HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE
With the support of Representative Eddie A. Lucio III, support the
creation and development of a Rio Grande Valley Health Policy
Institute to be based at the RAHC (and associated, affiliated or cosponsored in a manner to be determined with or by, among other
organizations, UTHSCSA, the Public Health programs of the
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and the
Public Health Division of the RAHC at the University of Texas at
Brownsville). The Policy Center’s mission would be to serve as a
public policy “think tank” focusing initially, but not exclusively, on
education of federal, state and local leaders and policy makers on
border healthcare issues and eventually developing an unique
identity or reputation for expertise in the field of translational
research and the application of existing knowledge through
innovative policy initiatives.
RAHC SCHOLARSHIPS AND ENDOWMENTS
Organize and implement a permanent philanthropic group and
ongoing effort to fulfill long-standing commitments made by the
Harlingen community to the University of Texas System to raise
funds for the creation of endowments for student and resident
scholarships and faculty and research chairs to benefit the RAHC.
VALLEY-WIDE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
Create a task force for the purpose of developing and implementing
plans, perhaps through public/private partnerships and financing
arrangements, for a Valley-wide transportation system and
supporting infrastructure to provide access of patients to Harlingen
medical facilities including specifically the South Texas VA Health
Care Center. The plan may include a rapid transit system (modeled
after the DART system in Dallas) hubbed in Harlingen and extending
stations and routes throughout the four-county area –- a Valley
Intercity Public Rail (VIPR) system.