The University of Toledo Medical Center’s transition to become a “community hospital” with a focus on specialized behavioral health has not been an easy sell to South Toledoans, activists, and some of the employees who currently walk its halls.
But CEO Daniel Barbee, who has heard heightened concerns about the medical center’s future from those very stakeholders over the past few months, isn’t done trying.
He sees a common goal between the two parties regardless of any vocal disagreements currently swirling around the institution, which is the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital. That goal:
“The survival of UTMC,” he said.
“With the town halls and some of the recent activity around that, in a large way, that’s very encouraging to me,” Mr. Barbee said. “It shows they care. They value our hospital. The people of South Toledo want us to stay. I want them to turn that enthusiasm into advocacy.”
Mr. Barbee is referring to a grassroots movement involving former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, AFSCME Local 2415 President Randy Desposito, Ohio Sen. Teresa Fedor, and others. These organizers view changes happening to the hospital and UT’s health science campus as a real threat to the South Toledo community. They have organized to advocate for UTMC to remain a teaching hospital amid growing fears that that role could one day be completely decimated.
Mr. Finkbeiner calls the UT campus a “shining light in the South End,” and fears that distinction could soon change. But the bigger issue, he said, is employees are roaming the halls of the center unsure of where the hospital is heading.
“There’s real uncertainty and fear on that campus as to what a community hospital is. Nobody knows. They’re unsure what’s going to happen to them,” Mr. Finkbeiner said. “How does anybody effectively provide care when there’s so much uncertainty surrounding their job?”
At odds is a 2015 affiliation between UT and ProMedica. The agreement sends an influx of cash from ProMedica to UT in exchange for some teaching functions to be moved to ProMedica, such as UT medical graduates performing residency at ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
Mr. Barbee isn’t involved with the agreement, and neither is UTMC, a common misconception, he said. But the agreement has shifted some teaching duties to ProMedica that were previously performed in house at UTMC. This has led critics to label the affiliation as a one-sided deal that essentially created a monopoly for ProMedica.
Additionally, a number of UTMC’s clinics have moved to ProMedica’s Falzone Center on Central Avenue. Those clinics include endocrinology, neurology, general internal medicine, and UTMC’s Parkinson’s center. The medical center also lowered its trauma designation from I to III in August.
Therein lies the rub.
But, Mr. Barbee, who has been with the hospital almost nine years, contends UTMC is merely experiencing a shift in services, an adaptive measure to cater to the region’s needs. He said even though those clinics aren’t based at UTMC, the hospital still offers their services.
“We provide full-range consultative services for just about every specialty there is,” he said. “They might not be based here. Their office might not be in my basement, but do we have neurology here? Seven days a week we do.”
Mr. Barbee disputes criticisms that hospital leadership hasn’t been forthcoming about UTMC’s future, insisting UT leadership has been transparent about the hospital’s transition every step of the way.
Last week The Blade toured the facilities of UT’s College of Medicine and Life Sciences campus and UTMC to further discuss where the medical center that employs roughly 1,900 people is headed. Mr. Barbee feels concerns about the hospital’s future have largely been misguided. He is urging South Toledoans to get behind UTMC’s “community hospital” identity. He said his vision for the center’s future includes its services remaining in South Toledo.
During the tour, Mr. Barbee pointed to the “large” pharmacy residency program on campus, as evidence that the medical center is still a strong teaching hospital.
“There are a lot of residents that aren’t doctors,” he said. “When we talk about learners in healthcare, there’s a lot of learners that aren’t physicians.”
Mr. Barbee said the hospital will see future renovations and remain committed to the South Toledo community.
“When we talk about what’s the long-term plan and goals for UTMC, we’re continuing to do significant renovations and upgrades,” Mr. Barbee said. “This is not a hospital that we’re shutting, this is a hospital that we’re building.”
He added: “We’re the only provider in South Toledo. Two-thirds of our patients come right from our neighborhood or these surrounding ZIP codes. We’re as community hospital as you’ll ever see because we care for a geographical location.”
Mr. Barbee says there are no plans for UT’s Medical Center and health science campus to be acquired by a different healthcare system, but added that mergers and acquisitions do often happen in the industry.
“Is it possible that UTMC could be a part of something? Of course it is,” he said. “But there’s no plans for that.”
Last summer, UT opened a $4 million Comprehensive Care Center on Glendale Avenue, across the street from campus.
The center offers primary and specialty clinics and allows patients to see a primary care physician, fill prescriptions at its pharmacy, and get laboratory testing all in the same visit. UTMC is expanding its child and adolescent psychiatry and has plans drawn up for development of a 17-bed adult inpatient unit, Mr. Barbee said. The child and adolescent division expansion is expected to be completed in a few weeks.
He points to these additions as evidence that the hospital is expanding its services, not reducing them.
Financial documents for UTMC over the last two fiscal years reveal a decreasing operating margin and decreasing total revenue.
In 2018, UTMC reported a total revenue of around $305 million, excluding assistance it received from UTMAC (University of Toledo Medical Assurance Company, LLC), an insurance captive which involves physicians paying premiums to cover potential risks for claims. The center’s revenue dropped to $296 million in 2019 with UTMAC assistance. The UTMAC fund saved the hospital from $3.5 and $7 million operating losses in 2018 and 2019 respectively. UT also reported that in 2018, UTMC’s average bed occupancy was 63 percent and rose to 64 percent in 2019.
Healthy Lucas County, in its latest Community Health Improvement Plan, identified mental health, addiction, and chronic diseases as three top priorities for improving the health of the region, an assessment Mr. Barbee said is proof that the area needs UTMC to further cater to those needs.
Mr. Desposito said community leaders are working on organizing some round-table discussions to ask the community what specific services they want at UTMC. They will then report those to UT officials. Both Mr. Desposito and Mr. Barbee agreed the future of the campus must include collaboration from both sides.
“If they want us to stay open, they need to support us,” Mr. Barbee said. “We are a little hospital in a very crowded market. And we are not profitable.”
“At the end of the day, we want South Toledo to have its hospital,” Mr. Desposito added.
Senator Fedor was among a long list of elected officials who penned a letter to UT President Sharon Gaber, suggesting several measures to ease the community’s concerns. She’s now calling on Gov. Mike DeWine’s office to give input to the public university.
“I want to be clear, this is a public institution,” she said. “The people own this institution. We want this to remain a teaching institution that rivals Ohio State. Why not?”
On Tuesday, Toledo City Council unanimously passed a resolution authored by Councilman Gary Johnson, urging UT to “provide the community with an opportunity to give input” on the needs of the community.
“If the hospital fails to be relevant and they have to migrate services, then I feel the campus loses something,” Mr. Johnson said. “I am concerned that UTMC will not be the teaching hospital that it currently is.”
Mr. Barbee said UTMC is and will remain a teaching hospital.
“There’s more education here than anywhere in our region by far,” he said. “And there's more research being done here than anywhere in northwest Ohio. We’re not an academic medical center, but we’re very much a teaching hospital.”
“Our region needs it. But, we need our region to support us,” he added.
First Published January 17, 2020, 7:40 p.m.
