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IMH Happenings10/27/2006The future of UTMB and a reality check By Howard Brody The Daily News Published October 25, 2006 I am a relative newcomer to UTMB and am still trying to understand all the recent changes and controversies. Speaking only for myself and not for the institution, one way to get a fix on things is to ask whether all the parties to a controversy are at least owning up to the nature of the problem. For instance, I have heard numerous reports about UTMB's reputation for poor service to patients, that may drive away some with insurance. I am pleased, therefore, when I attend faculty meetings, to see that this problem is being taken very seriously by the leadership and efforts are being made to change this. Next, I come to Sen. Kyle Janek's guest column (Oct. 22). He starts by blaming county governments for not doing their part, without asking where in today's political climate the counties are going to come up with the money, without slashing other vital local services. He does, however, eventually get to the main point — that ultimately the state has to step up and increase UTMB's appropriations, if UTMB is going to be enabled to continue its historic mission as a hospital of last resort for the state's indigent patients. Now, what of The Daily News itself? Dolph Tillotson's column, printed alongside Sen. Janek's, asks what the Galveston community can do to assist UTMB, and seems rather perplexed about what that could be. But he agrees that a critical move would be to confront the legislature with the need for more funding. But the same Mr. Tillotson, on the same page, endorses a gubernatorial candidate based in part on the candidate's call for “smaller, more efficient government.” We have heard this call for “smaller, more efficient government” for more than a quarter of a century now. One would think that, at some point, government would have become small enough, even if not efficient enough. At some point, folks would finally note that we have cut away all the fat and are carving away at muscle and bone. But, no matter how much is eliminated, the “smaller government” folks never say that it is enough. So we have to conclude in the end that “smaller, more efficient government” is nothing but code words for “keep cutting taxes.” It doesn't take a NASA scientist to figure out that, if the mandate in Austin is more and more tax cuts, then there will be no new revenue to assist UTMB. So at least it appears that both UTMB and Sen. Janek are attempting to live in the real world. Dr. Howard Brody lives in Galveston and is a member of the faculty at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
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