"We are disappointed to see that Central Health is attempting to distort the facts surrounding demand for MAP services and the nature of our agreement. "We question the need for maintaining such large reserves of taxpayer dollars when the critical healthcare programs those dollars are intended for remain underfunded," said Davis. The public entity is also incurring significant new administrative expenses, such as a new headquarters facility, which will come at a reported cost of $63 million. This approach is not dictated by lack of funds.Ĭentral Health’s contingency reserves have multiplied eightfold in the past five years, currently sitting at more than $300 million - even as there are unmet needs in the population the agency was created to serve. Over the years, its distinctive approach has benefited residents, saving and improving thousands of lives by providing equitable access to healthcare throughout the community, while also maintaining the lowest tax rate of the six largest safety net hospital districts in the state.Īs demand for MAP services continued to grow in recent years, however, Central Health continued to enroll more and more people into the program while refusing to adjust its reimbursement to Ascension Seton for such services accordingly. MAP is the healthcare program for economically vulnerable residents in Travis County and is part of the "safety net" system. It is unfortunate that Central Health through its inappropriate actions has forced us to take this legal action to ensure that Central Health meets its commitments to the community it was created to serve." "Even with today’s developments, we will continue to focus first on caring for patients, aligned with our mission to provide quality care to all. "Despite Central Health’s ongoing refusal to support increasing demand for MAP services and disregard of the existing contract regarding MAP membership, Ascension Seton has worked in good faith to continue providing critical healthcare services to Travis County residents," said Andy Davis, President and CEO, Ascension Texas. After years of attempted negotiation and mediation, Ascension Seton has no choice other than to seek a legal remedy. Ascension Seton also maintains that Central Health has unilaterally overenrolled individuals into the healthcare program while refusing to provide funding to support the care for these additional patients. For more than five years, and as the Travis County population continues to grow, demand for MAP services has far exceeded the number of individuals the program was designed and funded to support. Central Health repeatedly cites a 10-year-old agreement in their lawsuit, but completely ignores 23 agreements they have ratified since then that detail baseline numbers for appointments in specialty care.Īscension Seton maintains that Central Health has misrepresented its agreement and used distorted numbers to inaccurately represent growth of the MAP program. The data clearly demonstrates the success of the MAP program - through improved clinical outcomes and a better continuum of care. Ascension Seton believes that Central Health’s taxpayer-funded lawsuit is focusing on the wrong numbers. “There’s been an increase, I think, something like 57% of applications to the National Labor Board to go through this process.Ascension Seton had been seeking a good faith resolution to Central Health’s continued refusal to support increased demand for MAP services but was forced to seek legal remedy after Central Health refused to engage in further good faith discussions and negotiations.
“There is actually a lot more organizing happening,” Cumpton said. It’s part of a rising trend according to Greg Cumpton, who researches union efforts as co-director of the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs. This vote comes at a time when other workers in Central Texas have pushed to unionize recently, including at several Starbucks locations in Austin as well as Tiff’s Treats.
“I think the deteriorating work conditions - especially through the COVID crisis and pandemic and the hemorrhaging of staff that we had, with the minimal retention efforts that our facility was trying to make for them - really just put us to the breaking point where we said something’s got to change,” Clark added. According to the union, nurses said they’d like to work with the hospital to address issues like short-staffing, recruitment and retention.
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