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$31 Million Purchase Strengthens Alliance with Hermann
Agreement with Memorial Hermann Healthcare System
provides university
with first ‘owned’ clinic space
Gus Blackshear, left, board chair, Memorial Hermann Healthcare
System, and Michael D. McKinney, M.D., second from right,
senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of the
UT Health Science Center at Houston, sign the agreement for
the university’s purchase of the Hermann Professional Building
and the re-affiliation with Memorial Hermann Hospital as the
primary private teaching hospital for the UT Medical School.
Looking on are Dan Wolterman, president and chief executive
officer, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, second from left,
and Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D.
Photo by Ground Zero Photojournalism
Officials of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Memorial Hermann Healthcare System announced Sept. 1 an agreement that provides the university with its first “owned” outpatient clinic space and renews commitment to Memorial Hermann Hospital as the primary private hospital teaching site for faculty members of the UT Medical School at Houston.
The agreement includes the purchase of the Hermann Professional Building, 6410 Fannin St., and its adjacent parking garage by the UT Health Science Center for a total $31 million cash. Land was not involved in the sale. The building has been renamed The University of Texas Health Science Center Professional Building.
“This acquisition is part of our strategic plan for campus growth,” said UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D. “And purchasing an outpatient clinical building of our own underscores our commitment to acquiring the physical spaces in which our faculty, staff and students can do their very best to improve the health of our patients and educate our physicians and nurses in training into the future.”
At the same time, officials signed a re-affiliation agreement guaranteeing for the next 15 years that UT Medical School at Houston faculty continue on staff at Memorial Hermann Hospital, where they treat patients, conduct research and train more than 450 medical students, residents and fellows each year. The agreement to a close partnership between the medical school and the hospital renews the affiliation originated in 1968 and extended in 1998.
Years to Come
UT Medical School Dean Stanley Schultz, M.D., said, “Our teaching mission can only benefit for years to come from the accessible and enhanced outpatient clinical services that ownership of the Hermann Professional Building adds to our learning environment.”
“While the Texas Medical Center was built on intense competition, it will survive and thrive on collaboration,”
Willerson said.
The UT Health Science Center also granted the hospital the first opportunity to accommodate any new teaching or clinical programs, including new biomedical research involving human participants.
“The facility also provides an excellent place for outpatient clinical research, and we are very grateful to the Texas Legislature and the UT Board of Regents for their support and help in this endeavor,” Willerson said.
Financing of the purchase includes $19.5 million in tuition revenue bonds granted by the Texas Legislature two sessions ago.
The 15-floor building has more than 293,000 net square feet for physicians’ offices and ambulatory clinic space. It is more than 90 percent occupied. The parking garage at 6414 Fannin has spaces for 1,419 vehicles. Charlie Figari, vice president and chief auxiliary enterprises officer, assumes responsibility for managing the building.
Michael D. McKinney, M.D., senior executive vice president and chief operating officer at the health science center, said, “The purchase of Hermann Professional Building will allow the university to redirect $3 million a year toward teaching and research.”
Patient Services
The Medical School faculty of more than 500 physicians, representing 18 clinical departments, provides full inpatient and outpatient services, not only through its multidisciplinary group practice plan, but also through affiliations with Memorial Hermann Hospital and the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital of the Harris County Hospital District. Other major affiliates include the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center and the Texas Heart Institute/St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital.
“Some of you have heard me say that, while the Texas Medical Center was built on intense competition, it will survive and thrive on collaboration,” Willerson said. “The UT Health Science Center at Houston is proud of its collaborative efforts with Memorial Hermann and regards this as another step in the collaboration with the entire Texas Medical Center.”
The building currently houses several outpatient clinics that are part of UT Physicians, which is affiliated with the group practice plan of the Medical School.
A skyway connects the UT Health Science
Center Professional Building with Memorial
Hermann Hospital on Fannin Street.
Photo by Ester Fant
Richard Andrassy, M.D., executive vice president for clinical affairs, said the purchase establishes the university’s niche in the outpatient market. “There is a growing shift toward more outpatient services,” said Andrassy, who also is chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Medical School. “Owning our own clinical space will allow us to enhance these services and better prepare the next generation of physicians who will be working primarily in outpatient settings.”
As the owner of the building, Andrassy said, the university will be able to develop more outpatient services, which could include a full-service women’s health center and clinic for geriatric medicine.
Plans for the Building
In addition, the university plans to make the building, which was constructed in 1949 and expanded in 1958, more easily accessible to patients. Those plans include an information desk and improved directional signs inside the building. Retail space for a pharmacy, restaurant and branch bank will remain.
A skyway currently connects Hermann Professional Building with the hospital, and the eight-story UT Medical School Building bridges Ross Sterling Avenue to form one continuous structure with Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Memorial Hermann Hospital has one of only two Level 1 trauma centers in Houston, and, in conjunction with UT Physicians, is the only facility with a dedicated pediatric trauma service. Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital, a 150-bed facility located within Memorial Hermann Hospital, also is affiliated with the UT Medical School and offers services in pediatric cardiology and other specialties.
The UT Health Science Center at Houston provided “unsponsored charity care,” or unreimbursed services to the financially or medically indigent, totaling nearly $134 million in the 2003 fiscal year.
— David Bates, Public Affairs