Earlier today, I recorded and sent a video message for the entire UTMB family, as part of my pledge to be transparent and share any worries or concerns I have about our university and health care system. I did the video because I wanted to personally address each of you. But I also wanted to follow up in writing, so you can reference information as we move forward.

COVID-19 has taken a great toll not only on our communities but also on the financial health of UTMB. Today, we are over $40 million “in the hole” compared to when the public health crisis started. Even with help from the federal government and other sources, we must take immediate action for ourselves to sustain our mission.

We all know that, in the past when faced with a great financial challenge, we have undertaken reductions in force and sharp budget cuts to address the problem. As noted in the video, this time I would like for us to move into the future with a different approach. We need all of our employees to be actively engaged in our recovery process.

Therefore:

1. There will be no reduction in force at this time. Instead, beginning May 1, we will ask all employees to take the equivalent of one day a week off for the next eight weeks (through June 30). You can use personal leave accruals of vacation, banked holidays and personal holidays to cover the time. This action will remove a large liability from our future financial obligations.
2. Effective immediately, I am eliminating all incentive payments for staff and executives alike for this fiscal year. This includes the TEAM Award usually made in early fall, as well as the at-risk portion of executive and senior manager salaries for FY20.
3. We have worked with the Development Office to create a COVID-19 Recovery Operations Fund that will be used to help close our budget gap. I am asking that faculty designate a portion of their salary to that fund, in a manner consistent with that given up by our senior management and executive leadership. Others are welcome to contribute as well.
4. In addition, we will continue our hiring freeze and we will reduce overtime usage across the board. There also will be a review of all casual (PBL) usage.

While these strategies will not close the entire gap, they will be a huge help in that effort. And, they will for now preserve jobs, as well as health and retirement benefits.

Please note that items 1, 2 and 4 above do not apply to our employees in Correctional Managed Care, because their salaries are paid through a different budget mechanism with TDCJ.

As noted in the email that accompanied the video message, more information about this plan is available at this link, and managers will be able to access a special hotline starting Monday at (833) 250-3660.

I do have good news to share in that we will begin a phased increase in certain clinical services on Monday, April 20, 2020, to address the needs of many of our patients who had to delay surgeries or procedures due to the COVID-19 emergency. We are grateful to now be in a position to provide this care to those whose care should not be deferred any longer. And we will be communicating in the days and weeks ahead about additional phases in our return to full operations.

COVID-19 remains a challenge unlike any other we have faced before. It is a challenge that will be with us for some time, until effective therapies and vaccines are available. I continue to be inspired by the skill, innovation and dedication I have seen throughout our UTMB family as we have responded to this pandemic. We are not in any way “out of the woods” in terms of COVID-19, but we have been able to help our communities and public health authorities effectively manage the outbreak in our region.

I know I can count on that same spirit of collaboration to help us weather the resulting financial difficulties. Working together, we and our mission will emerge even stronger. Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely yours,

Ben G. Raimer, MD, MA, FAAP

President ad interim

FAQs with more detail will be available soon.
A manager hotline will be available starting Monday, April 20, at (833) 250-3660.