Tuesday, July 12, 2005 | 10:49 a.m.
University system Chancellor Jim Rogers said this morning he would not support partnering with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on a proposed Las Vegas academic medical center unless the costs and profits from such a center are split evenly.
And while Rogers said negotiations with officials from the Pittsburgh center will continue, the chancellor said that if a partnership ultimately falls through then local leaders should work to open an academic medical center in Las Vegas without an outside partner.
"Even if Pittsburgh goes away we still do it, although it would probably take longer," Rogers said.
Rogers said he has not spoken with Pittsburgh center officials since hearing through news reports that they oppose contributing toward the construction of a potentially $400 million center and want to keep any profits from the center. Pittsburgh center officials are expected in Las Vegas in the first week of August for a meeting with local officials, he said.
Rogers had previously said the Pittsburgh center would put $150 million toward the building, and reiterated this morning that he believes the $250 million slated to come from Nevada sources would be the most that Nevadans would put into the deal. Both sides appear to continue to agree that the Pittsburgh center would pay for the start-up costs, which are also expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
What exactly the financial investment from Nevada and Pittsburgh sources pays for - whether it is a building or start-up operational costs - is not important, Rogers said, adding that what is important is that both parties have an equal investment in the project.
"The sharing of the profits is the key," Rogers said. "We share liabilities so we share in the profits."
Without this equal sharing, or if the project calls for more than $250 million from Nevada sources, Rogers said he would not support joining forces with the Pittsburgh center.
"It'll be the end of it," Rogers said.
"To start with we still don't know where to get the $250 million. My gut reaction is that $250 million is kind of a maximum for us and I'm not sure we can afford $250 million. The sharing of the profits is based upon the sharing of the investments," he said.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a leader in the push for opening an academic medical center on city-owned downtown land, has said he hopes the state will provide $250 million for the project. The proposed center would be part of the development on the city's vacant 61 acres on the western edge of downtown, which is also planned to include a new City Hall, a performing arts center, residential and office high-rises, and possibly a baseball stadium.
Goodman said he was not concerned about the apparent disagreement between Rogers and Pittsburgh officials.
"The discussions are so embryonic at this stage that nothing concerns me at this point. Nothing concerns me until we get to the nitty-gritty. We've only had about 10 discussions so far, so it's still early in the process," Goodman said this morning.
Rogers said he is "not distressed" by the recent comments from Pittsburgh officials.
"I always know there will be problems this week and victories next week," he said.
If a partnership with the Pittsburgh center is not to be, Rogers said local officials should work to build a center on our own. The universities of Oregon and Texas both have academic medical centers that could be looked at as models for how to put together a center in Las Vegas, he said.
Local doctors, who have opposed a Pittsburgh-run center, have called for a center that would be entirely owned and operated by Nevada officials and doctors.
In a recent memo to university system regents, Rogers wrote: "It is my preliminary opinion that an academic medical center in Las Vegas is a project that all of us must examine very carefully because it may have such incredible potential that to fail to do so would be a dereliction of our duty to provide more comprehensive world-class medical care."
Goodman has said an academic medical center, which would essentially be a teaching hospital, would greatly increase the kinds of advanced medicine available in Southern Nevada.
Rogers also said this morning that while no formal agreement was ever in place regarding the larger financial questions, the one agreement he thought did exist apparently does not.
Rogers said he thought the university system and Pittsburgh center would share the cost of hiring an independent planner or consultant to evaluate the proposed Las Vegas center. Such a study would show how much land is needed, and provide a more concrete estimate of the costs involved.
But Rogers said the Pittsburgh officials apparently will not help pay for the planner.
"And if they don't do that, I don't do that," Rogers said, about providing what would probably be hundreds of thousands of dollars for a planner.
Pittsburgh center officials could not be reached for comment this morning.
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