We have released the newest Pulse video today, in which I share some good news about the recently concluded legislative session. Given how important these results are to our mission, I wanted to follow up with this message for anyone who isn’t able to access the video. 

Over the course of this year’s session, UTMB worked with elected officials and staff to provide information and answer their questions about our priorities. On June 15, Governor Abbott signed the state budget for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, and we are very pleased with the results.

Early in the session, we learned that $12 million would be added back to our base funding. This was the amount of “hold harmless” funding we were able to negotiate in 2017, to offset some significant cuts to our appropriations made in the previous session. We were happy to see the “hold harmless” funding maintained for the coming biennium.

In terms of our academic mission, we will see $11 million restored to our formula funding that supports education and research. And, we will see greater support for residency programs—important for keeping the doctors who train in Texas practicing in Texas.

We also got approval to transition funding for our patient care mission into a Health System Formula, valued at $300 million for the next two years. This change makes our funding pattern consistent with other health-related institutions that own hospitals. And, it allows us to better plan for the level of funding we will see in future legislative sessions. The formula calculates funding based on metrics and performance measures related to primary care and chronic care. We have worked on this change for many years, and it is gratifying to see it become reality.

UTMB also will receive $2.25 million to support funding for our Three-Share Program, a great initiative that makes health coverage affordable for employees of small businesses in the area.

For Correctional Managed Care, in partnership with TDCJ, we were awarded $190 million in a supplemental appropriation for the current biennium (FY2018/2019), to reimburse us for some of the additional costs incurred to provide care to the offender population. In addition, for the FY2020/2021 biennium, the base funding for the CMC program will increase by more than $168 million, and we have approval to build and staff new skilled nursing beds. 

The investment the Legislature is making in UTMB and our mission is substantial, and it is a resounding vote of confidence for the work we are doing at UTMB. We are grateful to our local delegation and members of key committees on health and education for supporting our important work.

I also want to offer my personal thanks to our Health Policy and Legislative Affairs team—in particular Dr. Ben Raimer, senior vice president for HPLA; Lauren Sheer, vice president for legislative affairs; and Ryan Micks, director for legislative affairs. None of our success in Austin would be possible without their expertise, hard work, long hours and commitment to UTMB.

And, none of it would be possible without the work all of you do every day to serve others and to make the most of the investments that are entrusted to UTMB. Because of you, we have a tremendous story to share with elected officials.

Thank you, always, for working together to improve health in Texas and beyond.

View the related Pulse video at https://www.utmb.edu/president/pulse/2019/06/27/pulse-june-26-2019.

View the video transcript (.txt file)