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Medicare Bill to Provide Relief to Texas HospitalsThe historic Medicare reform bill, which was approved by Congress on November 26, and signed into law last week, includes provisions aimed at assisting border hospitals. These provisions are especially helpful for Texas health institutions that incur substantial costs treating undocumented immigrants. The bill, in its final form, includes $280 million for Texas in the next year, and $50 million in each of the subsequent four years. These federal funds are directed at hospitals that provide emergency healthcare for undocumented immigrants: in some Texas hospitals, this population accounts for six percent of the patient load. The immigrants can rarely pay for their treatment, thus creating a heavy burden for hospitals that are already operating in poorer districts. The Medicare bill also supplies additional funding for medical education. Because of the bill, Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston will receive enough funding to restore its graduate medical education program. State to Take a Closer Look at Workers' Comp SystemReacting to labor, business, and doctors' concerns over the increasing cost of workers' compensation in Texas, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced the creation of a select senate committee to examine the issue at the beginning of this week. Many businesses have been struggling with rising insurance and medical costs since the last substantial restructuring of the workers' compensation system occurred in 1989. This new panel will examine a number of issues, such as medical fee guidelines, therapeutic and pharmaceutical care, the efficiency of the claims process, and the creation of an official workers' comp provider network. In 2001, the legislators called for the initiation of a state-monitored network.However that network failed to materialize. The committee will also examine why this initiative was not as successful as expected. The issue is a pressing one for Texas. According to a state report prepared in 2001, Texas reported the highest average workers' comp claim of the eight states studied. Dewhurst has called the workers' compensation system "a developing crisis" and has recommended that Texas look at what other states have done in this arena. The Lt. Governor has also expressed a distinct interest in reducing fraud. Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine will chair the panel, which consists of Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock; Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas; Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls; Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen; Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston; Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio; Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound; and Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas. Common Network a Goal for Texas Higher EdEducators in Texas hope that the state will join a select number of others that have built high-speed research networks connecting numerous colleges and universities. The project, entitled the LoneStar Education and Research Network, or LEARN, will unite 27 public and private colleges via a common high-speed fiber-optic network. The state-wide network would be an entrée to a new national research network called the National LambdaRail, or NLR, which consists of four sub-networks that will enable a constant flow of communication over multiple pathways with different emphases, such as biomedicine, advanced network research, or physics. The multiple pathways are highly important for network research, in that experiments can be performed on the network itself without risking the functionality of the entire system. The Texas schools have chosen to cooperate by pooling resources and applying for funding together as opposed to competing for scant financial resources. The project will cost an estimated $7.5 million for the initial construction of the network, and then an addition $5 million to join the national network, NLR. NLR is supposed to launch in early 2004, while the Texas program aims to be operational by late in the year. Each of the LEARN schools, a group that includes Baylor University, University of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A & M, and the Texas Association of Community Colleges, pledged $20,000 in annual dues to support the project. 13 School Districts to Receive Awards as Part of Texas High School Project13 Texas school districts, charter schools and other organizations will receive a total of $5 million in dropout prevention grants. The awards are part of the new Texas High School Project, a public-private initiative designed to increase high school graduation and college graduation rates statewide. These grants represent the first use of $130 million in state and private funds that are part of the Texas High School Project. This particular $5 million in state dollars comes from the Texas Grants to Reduce Academic Dropouts (GRAD) funds, which is administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The grants, which range in amount from $160,000 to $500,000, will be used to finance projects that demonstrate the greatest potential to increase graduation rates among economically disadvantaged students. Additional grants and programs will be funded through this initiative. Final grant award amounts will be determined by TEA. The list of grant recipients, along with the grant amounts each entity requested, includes:
TEXAS SHORTS:Texas to Receive $9 Million in Homeland Security GrantsThe Department of Homeland Security announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency grants on December 18. FEMA has allocated $9 million to Texas, out of the $173 million dedicated to state and local governments nationwide. It is an increase of $400,000 from last year's allocation. State Launches Public School Finance WebsiteThanks to a new state-sponsored website, citizens can now follow the legislative effort to study and resolve the public school finance online. The site, entitled "The Texas School Finance Project," launched on December 10, is dedicated to the Legislature's ongoing work on public school finance and gives viewers the opportunity to review testimony the committees have received and view materials distributed during the hearings. The website includes information on the House and Joint Select Committees, as well as the reports of the research team. The new site can be found at: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/psf/capitol.htm. Bexar County to Cut Voting Sites Due to Lack of FundsBoth Bexar County Republicans and Democrats are facing budget shortages heading into the Texas Primary. As a result, according to the county's elections administrator, "The parties are going to have to cut sites." In an effort to avoid a situation similar to the 2002 primary, in which understaffed voting sites resulted in a Voting Rights Act lawsuit, the parties are attempting to resolve the problem early. Due to budget cuts, all Texas counties are receiving only 83.5% of the last year's funds. While the parties have already agreed to hold a joint primary to alleviate some of the costs, they still must produce approximately $250,000 of their own funds to support just 300 polling stations in the county. If they cannot, they must solicit approval for cutting polling sites from the Justice Department at least 60 days before an election. |
NEW SPI GOVERNMENT OPPORTUNITY PACKAGE
Event LinksTexas Higher Education Human Resources Association, Winter Conference - 01/11/04-01/13/04 Data Interchange XML Theory and Practice - 1/18/04 Second Annual Courts and Local Government Technology Conference - 01/28/04-01/29/04 2004 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Facilities Conference - 02/04/04-02/06/04 Fourth Annual Purchasing and HUB Connection Forum - 2/11/04
Past ABJ articles by Mary Scott NabersBelieve It! It Is Possible to Win Government Business Without Having to Bid For It! - 12/4/03 Fingering opportunities in biometric technology - 11/03/2003 It's smart for vendors to watch 'smart card' deals - 10/6/2003 Watch Cap Metro, AISD for vendor opportunities - 9/22/2003 Watch state water board for flow of grant money - 9/8/2003 New state laws open up market at state agencies - 8/25/2003 Insider ArchivesVolume 1 Issue 5 - 12/11/03 Volume 1 Issue 4 - 12/4/03 Volume 1 Issue 3 - 11/20/03 Volume 1 Issue 2 - 11/13/03 Volume 1 Issue 1 - 11/7/03 Resources |
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UT CFO Talks about Government ServiceTGI reporters talked to Kevin Hegarty, CFO at the University of Texas. His perspective on state government service is unique in that he is using his private sector background to assist the University as it deals with dramatic budget cuts. What led you to your position as Chief Financial Officer of the University of Texas?I spent twenty-five years in the corporate world. I graduated from the University with two degrees in accounting and went to work for Price Waterhouse Cooper as an auditor for five years. I also worked for Trammell Crow and a company called The Associates, which despite their nondescript name, is the largest independent finance company in the world. I was their worldwide comptroller for seven years. Then, after a call from Michael Dell, I joined Dell as their Controller and later became the Chief Financial Officer of the Financial Services Unit. I didn't aspire to go into state service. I didn't aspire to go into a university setting. I did, however, believe I could possibly make a difference and I loved the university. Fundamentally, at my underpinnings is the belief that everybody needs to do at least a few years of public service--because we should give back. I felt at this point in my career it would be appropriate, and when a friend called to tell me about the CFO position at UT, which doesn't open up very often, I applied. How have you found your time here at the University?I found the people here to be fascinating. Larry Faulkner, the President, is the best boss I have ever had and I have worked for some really great CEOs. But he is the best. He had an understanding of the University as a business and he balances that against what is most often missing in the private sector, which is a compassion for the human element. Education is a human capital business. Some argue that learning may someday be completely on-line. I don't believe that. Texas has a student-teacher ration of 22 to 1, which is high. My son, for example, is deciding between a large school and a smaller liberal arts college. One size doesn't fit all, and that is another thing people don't understand in public education. Diversity is good, not just cultural diversity, but a diversity of options, and the flavor of the institution. For example the atmosphere at A&M is completely different from that of UT, and that's good. People need different options. One of the reasons I'm here is because Dr. Faulkner was willing to engage in an experiment. He was one of the few-although two years later there are many more-that believe education is a business, and it needs to be run as a business with a number of for profit concepts, etc. Just as with any business, the outer crust, the culture, is quite different. So the product we turn out is quite different. We really need to nourish and cherish the differences in the culture and I'm not here to change that. However, I think he brought me in to see if we, together, could convert the way we think about running this university to a more business kind of concept. It's very unique for universities. We have had some success and other institutions are following in our foot steps. For example, Texas A&M is on the hunt for a CFO. UT System is on the hunt for a Chief Business Officer. Both job descriptions are written for someone who comes from the private world. I think that this melding of two cultures is a great thing. It's not that one is good and one is not good, they are different. A major difference I've noticed, having come from the tech sector where a lot of it is ego and image, is that people working at the University of Texas, and probably many people at state agencies, are dedicated to the agency or the work that they do. Not to themselves and what it means for them personally. We can sit around a table and talk about things without people taking it personally: it is "what is best for the institution," even though we may disagree, but that is the conversation you have. That is extremely refreshing to me. The other part I really enjoy is the work. This may sound perverse, but joining the university when it has financial problems is the nirvana for a CFO, particularly for one that came in not to babysit or maintain, but make change. It's a great time to be at the University, because the finances of the University are the issue right now. Whether you are public or private, it is a challenging time because everyone needs to figure out a new business model for universities. It's a great time to be here because of that business challenge. Has the budget crunch made people more receptive to change?The times have definitely worked to our benefit in that regard. It is important to understand that universities are very decentralized. Anyone trying to do business with a university needs to understand this. Most minute AND major decisions are at the department level. We are doing things that make sense. We will move the university to one supplier of office supplies in order to leverage our spending with one supplier. That should save us $2 million a year. This is a big change and change is difficult but the financial situation-last year we had to cut $40 million from the budget-has forced change. More and more you are seeing us, and other universities, learn how to harness purchasing power. However, there is a downside to that, a downside that we really struggle with…. HUB participation. We are totally committed to HUBs, but HUBs in the ways that the laws were intended. I will tell you that there are a number of state agencies that engage in what I call HUB-fronts. For example, I'll buy the pencils from a major supplier; the major supplier will send the bill to the HUB, and the HUB will bill us. That's shenanigans! That's not how we believe we should do business. The challenge is to approach a major player and say "we're not going to do business with you, unless you figure out a way to partner with HUBs that can bring real product to the table." The other one we struggle with is how to support local companies. Office supplies is a great example-we were buying office supplies from about 30-40 mom and pop shops and we could put them out of business by moving to one supplier. Unfortunately I've got to figure out how to save the money, and if they can't deliver the product at a certain price point, we can't do business with them. A frustration, a key frustration-laws and regulations of the state that are either poorly executed or just make no sense. One of my favorite ones is the Prompt Pay Law, where if I don't pay you within thirty days, whether you ask me for it or not, I have to pay you interest on what I owe you. In the private world we think of prompt pay as something of value, and are willing to offer discounts for prompt pay. There are some companies, like Dell, that have built there business model on always being in a net borrowing position, which means that if you sell to Dell, you better know that they are not going to pay you for at least 90 days. I'm not advocating that the state become a slow payer, what I am saying is that without that law, I could go to vendors and get a discount for paying within thirty days and the state would save money. Another one is the Open Records Act. I am very much a believer in open government, and certain of the requests that we get are completely appropriate. But it is one of the most abused and most costly processes we have. I have three people dedicated to only that function, and most of the information they give out is simply frivolous. We get some of the oddest request-sometimes media related, sometimes not. We have been asked about security cameras on campus-which is something we should not disclose. For legitimate requests, we need a more liberal ability to charge what it actually costs to meet open record requests. That would at least allow state agencies to recover the cost of processing. Another frustration of mine is Pro Cards, which are purchasing cards within state agencies. Purchasing cards are very efficient, very effective tools that I wholeheartedly endorse. The state allows us to delegate authority up to $5000, but most of us have much lower limits. There are two problems with the deal that the state cut. One, the Pro Card system provides little to no reporting feature so I live with the fear that I'm going to have problems. Secondly, there are no rebates and if you are going to push millions of dollars across a card you should expect some rebates. The Comptroller's office asked for a rebate only on state monies and if they had bothered to look they would have seen that 90% of the dollars that flow across the card are not state monies. So we're left in a lurch, and I can't go back and negotiate it. The state's missing an opportunity. Most state agencies are funded by state monies; our state funding is only 34 cents on every dollar in the total budget. We are a hybrid and so we get no rebates. This is something that I would like to see fixed. |
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38th Annual Texas Legislative ConferenceSponsored by the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce in New Braunfels on March 25-26. Topics covered include public school finance, transporation infrastructure, and globalization. For more information and to register, visit http://www.nbcham.org. |
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Hope Andrade, Ted Houghton to Join the Transportation CommissionOn December 16, Gov. Rick Perry announced the appointment of Esperanza "Hope" Andrade of San Antonio and Ted Houghton Jr. of El Paso to the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees statewide activities of the Texas Department of Transportation. Andrade, vice president of OptimaCare, Inc., and Houghton, a self-employed financial services, executive benefits and estate planning expert, fill two new positions on the commission created when the Texas legislature expanded the commission from three to five members. She was a Perry appointee to the Texas Turnpike Commission until its functions were merged into the Texas Department of Transportation. She also has served on Via Metropolitan Transit and the Free Trade Alliance. Houghton, a member of the School Land Board and former vice-chair of the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board, becomes the first El Paso resident to serve on the commission in its 86-year history. He also previously served on El Paso's Rapid Transit Board, as vice president, chair of its public relations and communications committee, and treasurer of its political action committee. Along with existing members John W. "Johnny" Johnson of Houston, Ric Williamson of Weatherford, Robert Lee Nichols of Jacksonville, commission members represent rural, urban and border interests, and each member comes from different regions of the state: East, West, North, South and Southeast Texas. HHSC Names Gumbert Chief Information Officer for HHS SystemHealth and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins announced that Gary Gumbert will lead the transformation of information technology across the state's health and human services agencies as the chief information officer (CIO) for the enterprise. Gumbert, who will begin his new role Jan. 12, currently is regional MIS director for MAXIMUS and has more than a decade of experience directing complex information systems. At MAXIMUS, he is responsible for meeting the information technology needs of the company's contracts in Texas, Colorado, Iowa and Kansas. Gumbert also is a former fighter pilot and retired from the U.S. Air Force as a major in 1990. His private sector experience includes positions with Reavis Home Care and Columbia Health Services, and he once served as the chief financial officer of an insurance company. Gumbert is a graduate of the United State Air Force Academy, and he attended the Air Command and Staff College. He also earned a master's degree in systems management from the University of Southern California. At the Health and Health Services Commission (HHSC), Gumbert will oversee the planning, implementation and evaluation of information technology, as well as related policies and procedures. HHSC is consolidating administrative functions, including information technology, across the health and human services system as part of a larger effort to improve services, enhance accountability and increase efficiencies. |
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Department of Homeland Security and Technical Support Working Group Award First ContractThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology division and the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) announced today a contract award to North Carolina State University (NCSU) for the development of the next generation of structural fire fighting personal protective equipment, which will include chemical and biological agent protection. Under the agreement, NCSU will receive more than $830,000 for an eighteen month term. NCSU was selected from more than 3,300 proposals submitted in response to a May 2003 Broad Agency Announcement issued jointly by Homeland Security and TSWG. The NCSU team will design equipment that will provide protection consistent with the high standards of the National Fire Protection Association for both structural fire-fighting protection and chemical/biological protection. These next generation garments will provide dramatically enhanced protection against chemical and biological agents while improving the flexibility, weight, durability, heat stress reduction, service life, and costs associated with currently available protective gear. Dr. Roger L. Barker, Director, Center for Research on Textile Protection and Comfort, College of Textiles, will lead the NCSU team of materials and clothing design experts from academia and industry. Representatives of DuPont, Globe Manufacturing Company, Portable Environments LLC, and the Fairfax, VA and La Mesa, CA Fire Departments, will work closely with NCSU throughout the project to design, test, and field the improved equipment. Jack L. Johnson to be DHS Chief Security OfficerSecretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced the appointment of Jack L. Johnson, Jr., of Virginia, to serve as the Chief Security Officer at the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Johnson has served at the Department in this capacity as a detailee since January 2003. Prior to his assignment to DHS, Mr. Johnson was in his 20th year with the United States Secret Service where he served in various positions including Special Agent in Charge and a Deputy Assistant Director. Mr. Johnson has a Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland and a Masters from George Washington University. The Chief Security Officer directs all security-related activities as they relate to the 22 agencies and over 180,000 employees that now make up the Department of Homeland Security. The CSO develops security-related policy and procedures in the areas of personnel security, administrative security, physical and technical security, counterintelligence and operational security, investigations and inspections and special security related programs. In addition, the CSO provides support for the Chief Information Officer in the area of security policies and procedures as they relate to classified information technology. |
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