|
Officials uncertain of medical site’s future
Published October 20, 2008
University of Texas Medical Branch doctors have been using video-conferencing technology to see Brazoria County’s indigent patients since Hurricane Ike devastated the Galveston complex in September.
The Galveston Island medical facility is using the method to keep patients from coming onto its site, which is recovering from the storm, Brazoria County District Attorney’s Office Civil Division Chief Jim Wiginton said. He said the facility has fewer than 50 beds available for indigent care.
After UTMB doctors diagnose indigent patients, they are sent to local health care facilities or to the medical branch for further treatment, said Wiginton, who handles all duties associated with indigent care in the county.
“It’s my understanding that they don’t know what the future is there,” Wiginton said of the medical branch’s status. “We have been told to sit tight while the medical branch is in question.”
Since the storm, UTMB officials have had town hall meetings with employees and the media, and said many facilities still are not online. Also, state officials stepped in to assure funding will be there so UTMB would not have to cut its 4,000 employees to make ends meet.
County officials have a contract with the medical branch to care for indigent residents and county jail prisoners and use of the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office next fiscal year, Wiginton said. They must decide by Sept. 1 each year whether to renew the contract.
Wiginton couldn’t say exactly how much the contract is worth because it asks the county to pay about 35 percent of the cost of caring for the indigent patients, which is determined by how many patients are seen.
Brazoria County has about 100 indigent patients, Wiginton said. That number is low because areas that have hospital districts, such as Sweeny and Angleton-Danbury, take indigent patients.
In Brazoria County, someone is indigent if they are 50 percent below the poverty level for the number of people in a household, Wiginton said.
Alvin resident Wade Myer, 37, seeks indigent health care from the medical branch. He had been receiving treatment for diabetes for six months before the storm hit.
But while the medical branch has been rebuilding, he has found other means of care because wait times have been too long and he couldn’t get to the island.
“I now get my medication at an urgent care center in Bacliff,” he said.
The first days after the storm hit, Myer had to sneak into Seabrook, where he was staying with family, to get medicine he left behind. He and family members had to dodge police barricades blocking access into town, but he got the medicine.
Locally, health care officials say the status of the medical branch has not affected operations.
Nola Copus, leader of Freeport’s Brazosport Medical Center, said her clinic for low-income residents has not seen an increase of indigent patients. She could not say how many indigent patients visit the clinic each day, but she said the clinic’s medical, dental and vision offices receive 24,000 patient visits annually.
“We were open and serving the public the Monday after the storm and we did get a few more in the first few days, but we are not seeing a steady flow of more patients,” she said.
Brazosport Regional Health System in Lake Jackson admits everyone regardless of whether patients can pay, but officials have yet to see an influx of the indigent in waiting rooms, spokesman Scott Briner said of the 200-bed hospital.
The 64-bed Angleton Danbury Medical Center has a partnership with UTMB to provide indigent care to residents who live in the areas of Angleton, Danbury and Rosharon, spokeswoman Tonya Visor said. The program has 45 patients.
If the medical branch was unable to fulfill its end of the partnership, Visor said her hospital would be forced to seek out other forms of financial assistance. Visor declined to say whether hospital leaders have discussed other options.
Wiginton said county officials hope the medical branch recovers and once again can take Brazoria County’s indigent patients. The county has contracted with the medical branch for indigent care since the 1980s.
“I think it’s fair to say the county is eager to renew the agreement with UTMB,” he said.
Visor said if the medical branch was to greatly cut back services, it would be a major loss to the county, not just to the indigent. Many people travel to the medical branch to see specialists who not available locally.
But the medical branch’s status makes Wiginton uneasy about proposing another year of indigent care to Brazoria County commissioners.
“There’s a lot more to be fixed down there than we thought there’d be,” Wiginton said. “We’ll wait and see.”
Nathaniel Lukefahr is a reporter for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0151.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print
|
|
|
 |
|
FREE BAY BOAT WITH WATERFRONT PURCHASE Get
...
Click for all
Top Ads listing
|
