I've read about the financial issues and cuts being made at Western, Central, BG, and Akron. How much does UT stand to lose? Any ideas on financial action they might take? Between the sinking ship known as UTMC and the COVID fallout, I would think it is substantial.

They made up $14M of losses for this FY (up to June 31st) by mandating furloughs and admin paycuts, but they're estimating roughly $36M of losses in the Academic arm of the institution (non-UTMC losses) with the Federal bailout from the CARES Act cut roughly $6M off of the initial expected losses of $42M for this coming year, and the University is giving each administrative division (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, Facilities, Athletics, etc.) the freedom to make their own cuts to meet a full amount. As of right now, it appears that academic units are looking at between 13-15% cuts to their base budgets and more significant cuts to incremental/discretionary budgets. I would expect more clearly articulated news to be made public soon now that we're getting to the Board approval deadline for FY 21 (starts July 1st, 2020), but for those in the know, the cuts are deep and painful, with many employees being laid off, having their hours and responsibilities reduced, or having discretionary budgets completely recaptured.

PaulJ can likely give further information from other parts of campus.

(05-27-2020 10:09 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  They made up $14M of losses for this FY (up to June 31st) by mandating furloughs and admin paycuts, but they're estimating roughly $36M of losses in the Academic arm of the institution (non-UTMC losses) with the Federal bailout from the CARES Act cut roughly $6M off of the initial expected losses of $42M for this coming year, and the University is giving each administrative division (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, Facilities, Athletics, etc.) the freedom to make their own cuts to meet a full amount. As of right now, it appears that academic units are looking at between 13-15% cuts to their base budgets and more significant cuts to incremental/discretionary budgets. I would expect more clearly articulated news to be made public soon now that we're getting to the Board approval deadline for FY 21 (starts July 1st, 2020), but for those in the know, the cuts are deep and painful, with many employees being laid off, having their hours and responsibilities reduced, or having discretionary budgets completely recaptured.

PaulJ can likely give further information from other parts of campus.

BearcatMan did a great job covering the basics. Likely to get official announcement on the FY21 budget cuts any day now, Board meets June 22 to approve FY21 budget (by state law UT must submit balanced budget for next FY before July 1st), but UT leadership has authority to set proposed budget and make employees aware of decisions and are not required to await for Board approval to make those official. This is same process and timeline every other year at UT, just that the cuts are the most significant I have experienced in 25 years affiliated with UT.

There will be large cuts to operating budget of all units, colleges and departments, pay cuts to 12 month administrators (and reduction of some of those positions), and paycuts or permanent layoffs of CWA and PSA staff. The FY21 budget cut is directly tired to 20% cut in state funds plus anticipated 7.5% drop in fall enrollment. It is not related directly to UTMC deficits, but having to address the $1 million a week shortfall in the UTMC budget is resulting in draw down of UT daily cash flow and reserves-so it does have an impact on the ability of UT to manage their academic budget.

UTMC financial situation is complex, often confusing and obviously in flex given what opportunities might be possible given the RFP to sell or enter into agreement with a health care company to take over operations. Bottom line is that UT as a public institution, with a Board having fiduciary responsibilities to the State and taxpayers, can no longer afford to operate UTMC as part of UT operations, so a change is coming there very soon. Its easily to play the blame game and Monday morning QB as Carty and his folks are attempting to do, plus toss out suggestions of unethical or illegal actions by some involved in terms of the merger, UTMC operations and financial decisions, and the 2015 agreement with ProMedica, but regardless there is no way UT can continue to operate UTMC with their weekly losses (which were an issue months before COVID-19).

I personally don't know what the best solution is for addressing UTMC or what the financial and budget implications of a sale or management agreement would be, nor the future prospects for another company to own or run UTMC, but I do know that the current situation is unacceptable and will be changing very soon.

(05-28-2020 09:27 AM)PaulJ Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 10:09 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  They made up $14M of losses for this FY (up to June 31st) by mandating furloughs and admin paycuts, but they're estimating roughly $36M of losses in the Academic arm of the institution (non-UTMC losses) with the Federal bailout from the CARES Act cut roughly $6M off of the initial expected losses of $42M for this coming year, and the University is giving each administrative division (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, Facilities, Athletics, etc.) the freedom to make their own cuts to meet a full amount. As of right now, it appears that academic units are looking at between 13-15% cuts to their base budgets and more significant cuts to incremental/discretionary budgets. I would expect more clearly articulated news to be made public soon now that we're getting to the Board approval deadline for FY 21 (starts July 1st, 2020), but for those in the know, the cuts are deep and painful, with many employees being laid off, having their hours and responsibilities reduced, or having discretionary budgets completely recaptured.

PaulJ can likely give further information from other parts of campus.

BearcatMan did a great job covering the basics. Likely to get official announcement on the FY21 budget cuts any day now, Board meets June 22 to approve FY21 budget (by state law UT must submit balanced budget for next FY before July 1st), but UT leadership has authority to set proposed budget and make employees aware of decisions and are not required to await for Board approval to make those official. This is same process and timeline every other year at UT, just that the cuts are the most significant I have experienced in 25 years affiliated with UT.

There will be large cuts to operating budget of all units, colleges and departments, pay cuts to 12 month administrators (and reduction of some of those positions), and paycuts or permanent layoffs of CWA and PSA staff. The FY21 budget cut is directly tired to 20% cut in state funds plus anticipated 7.5% drop in fall enrollment. It is not related directly to UTMC deficits, but having to address the $1 million a week shortfall in the UTMC budget is resulting in draw down of UT daily cash flow and reserves-so it does have an impact on the ability of UT to manage their academic budget.

UTMC financial situation is complex, often confusing and obviously in flex given what opportunities might be possible given the RFP to sell or enter into agreement with a health care company to take over operations. Bottom line is that UT as a public institution, with a Board having fiduciary responsibilities to the State and taxpayers, can no longer afford to operate UTMC as part of UT operations, so a change is coming there very soon. Its easily to play the blame game and Monday morning QB as Carty and his folks are attempting to do, plus toss out suggestions of unethical or illegal actions by some involved in terms of the merger, UTMC operations and financial decisions, and the 2015 agreement with ProMedica, but regardless there is no way UT can continue to operate UTMC with their weekly losses (which were an issue months before COVID-19).

I personally don't know what the best solution is for addressing UTMC or what the financial and budget implications of a sale or management agreement would be, nor the future prospects for another company to own or run UTMC, but I do know that the current situation is unacceptable and will be changing very soon.

Hard to believe anyone will buy the hospital. Even before the current situation, many smaller hospitals across the country were struggling or closing. So what do you do? Close it and let it sit there forever? Tear it down costing a huge amount of money? What happens to the colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine and Nursing along with researchers? There is a hotel, a stand-alone physical therapy building owned by a private company and a very good cancer center. Hard to know who to blame, but Jacobs would be a good start.

(05-28-2020 09:50 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(05-28-2020 09:27 AM)PaulJ Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 10:09 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  They made up $14M of losses for this FY (up to June 31st) by mandating furloughs and admin paycuts, but they're estimating roughly $36M of losses in the Academic arm of the institution (non-UTMC losses) with the Federal bailout from the CARES Act cut roughly $6M off of the initial expected losses of $42M for this coming year, and the University is giving each administrative division (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, Facilities, Athletics, etc.) the freedom to make their own cuts to meet a full amount. As of right now, it appears that academic units are looking at between 13-15% cuts to their base budgets and more significant cuts to incremental/discretionary budgets. I would expect more clearly articulated news to be made public soon now that we're getting to the Board approval deadline for FY 21 (starts July 1st, 2020), but for those in the know, the cuts are deep and painful, with many employees being laid off, having their hours and responsibilities reduced, or having discretionary budgets completely recaptured.

PaulJ can likely give further information from other parts of campus.

BearcatMan did a great job covering the basics. Likely to get official announcement on the FY21 budget cuts any day now, Board meets June 22 to approve FY21 budget (by state law UT must submit balanced budget for next FY before July 1st), but UT leadership has authority to set proposed budget and make employees aware of decisions and are not required to await for Board approval to make those official. This is same process and timeline every other year at UT, just that the cuts are the most significant I have experienced in 25 years affiliated with UT.

There will be large cuts to operating budget of all units, colleges and departments, pay cuts to 12 month administrators (and reduction of some of those positions), and paycuts or permanent layoffs of CWA and PSA staff. The FY21 budget cut is directly tired to 20% cut in state funds plus anticipated 7.5% drop in fall enrollment. It is not related directly to UTMC deficits, but having to address the $1 million a week shortfall in the UTMC budget is resulting in draw down of UT daily cash flow and reserves-so it does have an impact on the ability of UT to manage their academic budget.

UTMC financial situation is complex, often confusing and obviously in flex given what opportunities might be possible given the RFP to sell or enter into agreement with a health care company to take over operations. Bottom line is that UT as a public institution, with a Board having fiduciary responsibilities to the State and taxpayers, can no longer afford to operate UTMC as part of UT operations, so a change is coming there very soon. Its easily to play the blame game and Monday morning QB as Carty and his folks are attempting to do, plus toss out suggestions of unethical or illegal actions by some involved in terms of the merger, UTMC operations and financial decisions, and the 2015 agreement with ProMedica, but regardless there is no way UT can continue to operate UTMC with their weekly losses (which were an issue months before COVID-19).

I personally don't know what the best solution is for addressing UTMC or what the financial and budget implications of a sale or management agreement would be, nor the future prospects for another company to own or run UTMC, but I do know that the current situation is unacceptable and will be changing very soon.

Hard to believe anyone will buy the hospital. Even before the current situation, many smaller hospitals across the country were struggling or closing. So what do you do? Close it and let it sit there forever? Tear it down costing a huge amount of money? What happens to the colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine and Nursing along with researchers? There is a hotel, a stand-alone physical therapy building owned by a private company and a very good cancer center. Hard to know who to blame, but Jacobs would be a good start.

McLaren bought St. Lukes, which was in WAY worse shape than UTMC was prior to the ProMedica purchasing arrangement, so there is definitely precedent for it. Honestly, there are a ton of different ways that building could be used...and hospital is only one of them.

(05-28-2020 12:44 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(05-28-2020 09:50 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(05-28-2020 09:27 AM)PaulJ Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 10:09 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  They made up $14M of losses for this FY (up to June 31st) by mandating furloughs and admin paycuts, but they're estimating roughly $36M of losses in the Academic arm of the institution (non-UTMC losses) with the Federal bailout from the CARES Act cut roughly $6M off of the initial expected losses of $42M for this coming year, and the University is giving each administrative division (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, Facilities, Athletics, etc.) the freedom to make their own cuts to meet a full amount. As of right now, it appears that academic units are looking at between 13-15% cuts to their base budgets and more significant cuts to incremental/discretionary budgets. I would expect more clearly articulated news to be made public soon now that we're getting to the Board approval deadline for FY 21 (starts July 1st, 2020), but for those in the know, the cuts are deep and painful, with many employees being laid off, having their hours and responsibilities reduced, or having discretionary budgets completely recaptured.

PaulJ can likely give further information from other parts of campus.

BearcatMan did a great job covering the basics. Likely to get official announcement on the FY21 budget cuts any day now, Board meets June 22 to approve FY21 budget (by state law UT must submit balanced budget for next FY before July 1st), but UT leadership has authority to set proposed budget and make employees aware of decisions and are not required to await for Board approval to make those official. This is same process and timeline every other year at UT, just that the cuts are the most significant I have experienced in 25 years affiliated with UT.

There will be large cuts to operating budget of all units, colleges and departments, pay cuts to 12 month administrators (and reduction of some of those positions), and paycuts or permanent layoffs of CWA and PSA staff. The FY21 budget cut is directly tired to 20% cut in state funds plus anticipated 7.5% drop in fall enrollment. It is not related directly to UTMC deficits, but having to address the $1 million a week shortfall in the UTMC budget is resulting in draw down of UT daily cash flow and reserves-so it does have an impact on the ability of UT to manage their academic budget.

UTMC financial situation is complex, often confusing and obviously in flex given what opportunities might be possible given the RFP to sell or enter into agreement with a health care company to take over operations. Bottom line is that UT as a public institution, with a Board having fiduciary responsibilities to the State and taxpayers, can no longer afford to operate UTMC as part of UT operations, so a change is coming there very soon. Its easily to play the blame game and Monday morning QB as Carty and his folks are attempting to do, plus toss out suggestions of unethical or illegal actions by some involved in terms of the merger, UTMC operations and financial decisions, and the 2015 agreement with ProMedica, but regardless there is no way UT can continue to operate UTMC with their weekly losses (which were an issue months before COVID-19).

I personally don't know what the best solution is for addressing UTMC or what the financial and budget implications of a sale or management agreement would be, nor the future prospects for another company to own or run UTMC, but I do know that the current situation is unacceptable and will be changing very soon.

Hard to believe anyone will buy the hospital. Even before the current situation, many smaller hospitals across the country were struggling or closing. So what do you do? Close it and let it sit there forever? Tear it down costing a huge amount of money? What happens to the colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine and Nursing along with researchers? There is a hotel, a stand-alone physical therapy building owned by a private company and a very good cancer center. Hard to know who to blame, but Jacobs would be a good start.

McLaren bought St. Lukes, which was in WAY worse shape than UTMC was prior to the ProMedica purchasing arrangement, so there is definitely precedent for it. Honestly, there are a ton of different ways that building could be used...and hospital is only one of them.

I don't know any details but apparently there have been several serious inquiries about the RFP. The Colleges are not impacted, they would continue there regardless of status of UTMC. There are advantages to have affiliations and partnerships with a hospital in regards to research - and certainly easier if on same campus - but no one I know of who works in those colleges, including faculty and researchers has expressed concern about their research if UTMC not longer exists as there are other local hospitals to partner with for research. I would think it would continue to be run as local community hospital and doubt it would be closed completely, but I suppose that is always possible. All I know is the Board will not accept (nor should they) the continued financial drain and drawing upon UT case reserves, and there is no way more time will be taken to address, seek blame or work through a new management and budget model, an immediate resolution is needed now.

(05-28-2020 04:21 PM)PaulJ Wrote:  

(05-28-2020 12:44 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(05-28-2020 09:50 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(05-28-2020 09:27 AM)PaulJ Wrote:  

(05-27-2020 10:09 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  They made up $14M of losses for this FY (up to June 31st) by mandating furloughs and admin paycuts, but they're estimating roughly $36M of losses in the Academic arm of the institution (non-UTMC losses) with the Federal bailout from the CARES Act cut roughly $6M off of the initial expected losses of $42M for this coming year, and the University is giving each administrative division (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Administration and Finance, Facilities, Athletics, etc.) the freedom to make their own cuts to meet a full amount. As of right now, it appears that academic units are looking at between 13-15% cuts to their base budgets and more significant cuts to incremental/discretionary budgets. I would expect more clearly articulated news to be made public soon now that we're getting to the Board approval deadline for FY 21 (starts July 1st, 2020), but for those in the know, the cuts are deep and painful, with many employees being laid off, having their hours and responsibilities reduced, or having discretionary budgets completely recaptured.

PaulJ can likely give further information from other parts of campus.

BearcatMan did a great job covering the basics. Likely to get official announcement on the FY21 budget cuts any day now, Board meets June 22 to approve FY21 budget (by state law UT must submit balanced budget for next FY before July 1st), but UT leadership has authority to set proposed budget and make employees aware of decisions and are not required to await for Board approval to make those official. This is same process and timeline every other year at UT, just that the cuts are the most significant I have experienced in 25 years affiliated with UT.

There will be large cuts to operating budget of all units, colleges and departments, pay cuts to 12 month administrators (and reduction of some of those positions), and paycuts or permanent layoffs of CWA and PSA staff. The FY21 budget cut is directly tired to 20% cut in state funds plus anticipated 7.5% drop in fall enrollment. It is not related directly to UTMC deficits, but having to address the $1 million a week shortfall in the UTMC budget is resulting in draw down of UT daily cash flow and reserves-so it does have an impact on the ability of UT to manage their academic budget.

UTMC financial situation is complex, often confusing and obviously in flex given what opportunities might be possible given the RFP to sell or enter into agreement with a health care company to take over operations. Bottom line is that UT as a public institution, with a Board having fiduciary responsibilities to the State and taxpayers, can no longer afford to operate UTMC as part of UT operations, so a change is coming there very soon. Its easily to play the blame game and Monday morning QB as Carty and his folks are attempting to do, plus toss out suggestions of unethical or illegal actions by some involved in terms of the merger, UTMC operations and financial decisions, and the 2015 agreement with ProMedica, but regardless there is no way UT can continue to operate UTMC with their weekly losses (which were an issue months before COVID-19).

I personally don't know what the best solution is for addressing UTMC or what the financial and budget implications of a sale or management agreement would be, nor the future prospects for another company to own or run UTMC, but I do know that the current situation is unacceptable and will be changing very soon.

Hard to believe anyone will buy the hospital. Even before the current situation, many smaller hospitals across the country were struggling or closing. So what do you do? Close it and let it sit there forever? Tear it down costing a huge amount of money? What happens to the colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine and Nursing along with researchers? There is a hotel, a stand-alone physical therapy building owned by a private company and a very good cancer center. Hard to know who to blame, but Jacobs would be a good start.

McLaren bought St. Lukes, which was in WAY worse shape than UTMC was prior to the ProMedica purchasing arrangement, so there is definitely precedent for it. Honestly, there are a ton of different ways that building could be used...and hospital is only one of them.

I don't know any details but apparently there have been several serious inquiries about the RFP. The Colleges are not impacted, they would continue there regardless of status of UTMC. There are advantages to have affiliations and partnerships with a hospital in regards to research - and certainly easier if on same campus - but no one I know of who works in those colleges, including faculty and researchers has expressed concern about their research if UTMC not longer exists as there are other local hospitals to partner with for research. I would think it would continue to be run as local community hospital and doubt it would be closed completely, but I suppose that is always possible. All I know is the Board will not accept (nor should they) the continued financial drain and drawing upon UT case reserves, and there is no way more time will be taken to address, seek blame or work through a new management and budget model, an immediate resolution is needed now.

Yep, I've heard the same from some colleagues over in COM and COP. They're not worried at all about this sale, and think it could actually help them in the long run.