Naked City

Children's Hospital of Austin moved from public control to private ownership last week with the City Council's final approval of a package deal brokered with the Seton Healthcare Network. Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman cast a skeptical eye and the lone vote against the privatization angle of the agreement but voted with the rest of the council on zoning and other matters related to Seton's plans to build a $175 million regional children's medical center at the former Mueller Airport site. Seton will continue to lease and manage the less profitable city-owned Brackenridge Hospital.

Seton, meanwhile, has redoubled its public relations and outreach efforts to win community support for the new hospital. Seton officials acknowledge they got off on the wrong foot with their surprise announcement last summer that they were planning a new pediatric facility (at the time, in far North Austin). The news outraged community leaders and public health care advocates and even took City Hall by surprise, which wasn't good. Seton officials are also stepping up their support of a proposed health care district. It's uncertain when voters will decide the issue, but a May 2004 election appears to be in the cards.

Additionally, Seton has expressed a willingness to shoulder some of the community's mental health needs in light of state funding cuts. The state is looking to shutter some public mental health facilities and the Austin State Hospital is expected to be a likely target; the hospital sits on some primo real estate in Central Austin and is valued at about $87 million. Until then, expect Travis Co. Probate Judge Guy Herman to step up his pleas for a stronger safety net for mental health services -- the impetus for his initial call for a tax-financed health care district. "It's time for this community to start planning for a publicly funded short-term psychiatric hospital that's affiliated with or located next to a public medical hospital," he said, adding that Austin is one of a few major Texas cities without such an arrangement.