CARES DECISION PRESS CONFERENCE 05/07/04


Director Moreland:
Good afternoon.  I would like to welcome everyone to today's
press conference.  My name is Mike Moreland; I am the director
of the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System.  Just moments ago,
in Las Vegas, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the
Honorable Anthony J. Principi, announced his decision to
accept in full the CARES Commission's recommendations for
the VA Pittsburgh.  As most of you know Secretary Principi
established the CARES Commission as an independent body
last year to review our draft national plan, the blueprint
for modernizing the VA's Health Care System.  Today, in
announcing his decision, Secretary Principi has charted a
new course for those of us who serve our nation's veterans.
The VA Pittsburgh Health Care System is a rapidly growing
and learning organization.

Over the past 4 years, the VA Pittsburgh has undergone a
significant transformation into a national leader in health
care quality and made substantial advancements in a wide
range of areas.  The strategic initiatives over the past
4 years have focused on improving quality, investing in our
staff and enhancement of our physical environment.  Today's
announcement is the culmination of years of hard work and
will serve as the corner stone of the strategic direction
of the VA Pittsburgh.  It is my great pleasure to announce
an almost $200 million dollar major construction project
for the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and the approval of
a new Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fayette County.

I want to say that again for emphasis.

(applause)

It is my great pleasure to announce an almost $200 million
dollar construction project for the VA Pittsburgh Health
Care System and the approval of a new community based
outpatient clinic in the Fayette County.  The plan for the
VA Pittsburgh features building 310,000 square feet of new
mental health, other clinical and research space at the
University Drive Division and 250,000 square feet of
clinical and support space at the Heinz Division.  The
plan also includes building a 1200 space parking garage
at the University Drive Division to improve access roads
and parking delays.  The estimated cost of the major project
is almost $200 million dollars.  This major project will be
designed to improve and enhance the care and services we
provide to our veterans.

There are many improvements with this project, which
include: We anticipate improved veteran satisfaction
because of improved privacy, access, convenience and
aesthetic enhancements compared to the space we have today.
We anticipate more efficient and effective treatment can be
provided in space designed to meet modern service delivery
modalities and standards of care.  Behavior Health Clinics
will be designed to support more efficient clinic flow
resulting in reduced wait times for new appointments.
Construction of inpatient units with all private and
semi-private rooms will meet community standards and improve
patient privacy and satisfaction.  Long wait times for a
parking space will be eliminated through the construction
of a parking garage and a new access road eliminating
parking congestion.

After this major construction project is completed and the
new buildings are furnished and equipped, we will gradually
move the Highland Drive programs into new state-of-the art
treatment space as construction is completed.  The approval
for the VA Pittsburgh to establish a much needed
Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fayette County will
greatly improve access to our Primary Care Services and will
allow us to treat more veterans closer to their homes.

This plan, which has been fully endorsed by the independent
CARES Commission and approved by the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, is in the best interest of the veterans we serve 
and will ensure that our hero's will continue to receive the
level of care that they have earned and deserve for serving
their country.  We remain committed to providing our veterans
with health care that is second to none.  So I want to thank
you for joining us today for this press conference.  That
concludes my official comments but I would be happy to
answer questions.

Press:
What happens to the facility out in East Liberty?

Director Moreland:
The plan calls for, as I mentioned, a three-step process;
first we build new space, then we move services into that
new space and then we will go through what is called an
enhanced use process.  Basically what we do is, we work
with the community to define other opportunities for
development of that property that will benefit veterans.
That is the long answer.  The short answer is that we will
be working to divest ourselves of that property and moving
it into the private sector so that we can work with people to
develop it for other services that will benefit veterans.

Press:
And how do you explain the location - you're calling it the
new Pittsburgh but its not in Pittsburgh, its not in
Allegheny County, it's in Fayette County?

Director Moreland:
No, there are two things that we are announcing today; oneis
construction here in Pittsburgh.  There is $200 million dollars
worth of construction that will be provided here in Pittsburgh,
some of it on this campus where we sit right now.  The other
part of that construction will be at the Heinz Division, which
is in O'Hara Township.  That's the first major announcement
is the construction and that construction is about $200 million
worth of construction for Pittsburgh.

Press:
And that's in O'Hara?

Director Moreland:
Some of it is here in Oakland and some of it is in O'Hara.
About 310,000 square feet of it will be here in Oakland,
about 250,000 square feet will be in O'Hara Township at our
other VA division.  The part about Fayette County is that
we at the VA Pittsburgh, we have currently three hospitals
in Pittsburgh and four Community Based Outpatient Clinics
around Pittsburgh.  What we are announcing today is the
addition of a fifth Community Based Outpatient Clinic,
which will be in Fayette County.  That's really the last
significant population group that does not have either a
VA Hospital or a Community Based Outpatient Clinic right
in close proximity.  So we are really excited about being
able to open that new community-based outpatient clinic.

Press:
How confident are you that the $200 million dollars will be
approved by Congress?

Director Moreland:
Well part of the money has already been approved.  It was in
the fiscal 04 budget and that money sits in Washington now.
The other part of it that we are anticipating will be provided
next fiscal year.  But in terms of my confidence, I am very
confident.  I have spoken to both the senators and the
congressional staff for the people from Pennsylvania. I have
talked to the Secretary of the VA myself personally and I've
been given full assurance that the money is on the way.

Press:
Since $100 million has already been approved, you need the
additional seventy is that right?

Director Moreland:
Well actually it is the whole project.  It is almost $200
million dollars.  The entire amount has been approved.
So we are just waiting.  And generally the way it works is you
get a piece of it the first year to do your design and then
the bulk of it comes after your design is complete.  So that
will come second.  But it has been approved, the secretary
has approved it and I am confident it will come forward.

Press:
Are you concerned or have you taken into account the fact
that you'll have a lot of people coming backfrom Iraq who
will probably need your services and there could be an
influx in respect to the Highland Drive Division?

Director Moreland:
Yes, we've already, in the past, less than a year we've seen
about 50 veterans receiving care here at the VA Pittsburgh
already returning from Afghan and Iraqi conflicts and so
we've treated them.  I see this construction project as really
putting us in better position to do that in the future and
so I think this is a good benefit for the veterans and for
that plan.  Anyone else?

Press:
How many acres is Highland Drive Division?

Director Moreland:
The Highland Drive Division is 168 acres.  There is 850,000
square feet of buildings on that space now.  We are using
about 570,000 square feet of that space so there is some
space already vacant.  The Heinz Division is 51 acres of
space, 425,000 square feet of space there.  By the way,
the Heinz Division was replaced about 12 years ago.  So
it is brand new space.  They tore down the old VA and built
a new VA on that space about 12 years ago.  And then the
University Drive where we are sitting today is about 13 acres
and 795,000 square feet.

Press:
When you said you would divest yourself of that property at
Highland Drive, you also said, or you said would help vets.
Can you be any more specific?  I mean if somebody wants to put
housing up there.  Would that help veterans?

Director Moreland:
Well what I would say is that our preference would be something
such as assisted living which would be a program that would
provide services in an area where we currently don't provide
services and so assisted living would be adding to the continuum
of care and it will be a good service for veterans.  It would
not have to be exclusively for veterans but it would need to
benefit veterans and it would have to document and show that.
Real quick, there was one in the back to the right.

Press:
Here it is 310,000 square feet.  What is the square footage
of the current structure and what services do you anticipate
will be in the new building?

Director Moreland:
The question was that there is 310,000 square feet of space
to be built on this division and how big is it currently.
It is 795,000 square feet of space today and we would build
that 310,000 square feet here at University Drive.
Predominantly that space would be inpatient acute psychiatry,
research space, some other clinical support space, lab and
such as that and then some administrative space.

Press:
How many beds are actually added...

Director Moreland interrupts:
Just a second, right in the back.

Press:
Mike, the Highland Drive Pennsylvania Bureau of Veterans
Affairs South-west Med. Center, I know they are trying to
get some of that dirt over there.  How much were they looking
to get?

Director Moreland:
I don't recall the exact acreage but they had asked us about
some of that space.  What is being referred is that the
state runs the Southwest Veterans State Veterans Home in
close proximity to the Highland Drive Division.  It is on
the property that actually used to belong to the VA and they
have asked for some space.  That would be something that could
be worked out as we finalize those plans.
In the front you were asking?

Press:
How many beds are going to be added or are you actually
losing beds?

Director Moreland:
The plan right now calls to build the same number of beds
that we currently have at Highland Drive so that there would
not be any real addition but we would not either have a
subtraction.  So our census over at Highland Drive at any given
day is about 170 so we plan to be able to provide the same level
of services as we go through.  Now again, it is going to take a
year to design and so we have a little bit of time to make
adjustments to that as we go through that process, but the plan
as it stands today is not to add nor to subtract.

Press:
What would the timetable be as far as people now going to
Highland Park when they would see a change in their service
and need start coming here?

Director Moreland:
The plan is if everything goes according to schedule and
everything works just right, and those are always variables
that may change, but if everything goes well; we would
anticipate getting the design money in about, I will say,
fiscal year 05, design it in fiscal year 05, bid the construction
in 06 and because it is such a large project I would anticipate
some of the project would actually be complete and be moved into
in 07 but it may take as long as 08 and 09 to finish all the
construction.  So I would say that we will start to see some
changes by the time we see the first part of the construction
completed.

Press:
The non-veterans, directly veterans related organizations
out at Highland, what happens to them?  How soon do they get
the boot?  Such as the mobility center associated with Pitt,
what happens to them?

Director Moreland:
Well the mobility center is a VA program associated with Pitt.
So it won't go anywhere, it's our program and so when we build
new space, and I mentioned that the University Drive Division
would be building some research space.  The idea is that the
mobility center would most likely come here to the University
Drive Division with adequate space to do that and the benefit
to that is that it creates a closer proximity to the university
and so it will increase their ability to work together.
But we definitely don't see them getting the boot.  We see
them moving into new improved space.  There are some other
groups at Highland Drive.  We have a Department of Defense
Organization that is out there; but we are building sufficient
space that if they choose to stay in VA space they could just
relocate when that space gets built.  In the back.

Press:
Mr. Moreland, I would like to thank you and your staff for
helping get that clinic in Fayette County, which of course
you said is much needed. Could you give me an anticipated
timeline?

Director Moreland:
I have been hoping that this announcement would be made.  So
we have been working for the last several weeks getting the
process in place just in case we got a good word so I am
hoping to have it announced in the next 7 days and then it
will take 6 to 10 months at the most.  You know me, I'm going
to push for 6 and I am hoping to have it open and seeing
veterans in 6 months.  That's my goal.  If it ends up being
9 don't yell at me too much.  You were going to say something.

Press:
What was some of the thinking behind making a decision which
ones would close and which ones would be built up.  What's
some of the reasoning that Highland Drive was decided to
close?

Director Moreland:
That's a real good question.  We put together a group of
people to make that decision.  It included administrative
people from the VA, it included physicians and other clinical
staff, it included members of our stake holders like our
union and our veterans service officers and we sat down and
talked a lot about that decision.  I will give you a brief
explanation of it but basically what we looked at was that
at University Drive we are sitting in a building that sits
adjacent to the university so we have the benefit of being
close to the university.  We just finished a major renovation
here, actually an addition.  We built a brand new 100 and
some bed inpatient facility on the back of this building.
So we made substantial investments here and all of our
high-tech medical/surgical equipment and everything is in
this building.  So it was just not financially or logistically
reasonable to close this division.

We then went over to Heinz and as I mentioned earlier, the
VA over at Heinz had been torn down 12 years ago and a brand
new state-of-the-art nursing home facility exists over there
and it just did not make good sense to walk away from a brand
new 12 year old 425,000 square foot building.

So then we looked at Highland Drive and it is the largest,
it is the only one that had some vacant space and to be honest
with you it was the one that needed the most investment to bring
it up to community standard.  Many of the units at Highland Drive,
you go to a bedroom, there is 4 veterans in one bedroom.  There
is congregate bathrooms, so that if you want to go to the rest
room or take a shower you go down the hall to a group shower or
group bathroom.  That is really not the kind of standard I'd
like to have.  So when we looked at it we made a decision so
if we were going to close one, we even talked about closing two,
but if we were going to close one which one would be close and
we decided to do that but only if it went into the three step
process I talked about.  You have to build a space that is
modern, that meets community standards with private rest rooms,
with private and semi- private bedrooms designed for the
modality of treatment that you need.  Once that was done and
you could move into it, then you could close Highland Drive.
It has to go in those three step sequences.

Somebody else?

Press:
Could you talk a little bit more about those services in
the Fayette County Center and then also you said a number
of times nearly $200 million, can you pinpoint the number?

Director Moreland:
The first part of this is about the Community Based Outpatient
Clinic in Fayette County and what kind of services will be
provided there.  What we have tried to do in Community Based
Outpatient Clinics is provide primary care services and basic
mental health services so that we can provide that in the
community based clinic.  That is sometimes, and it depends on
the location, but sometimes it can include some basic lab work,
some basic x-ray facilities and then the idea is that if you
need specialty services or inpatient that center works to funnel
you back to the VA here in Pittsburgh.  Not unlike frankly what
works in my private health care system in the private sector.
My primary care is out in Cranberry; my hospital care is here
in Oakland.  So it is the same kind of arrangement.

In terms of the nearly $200 million, I say that because we
are still in the process of finalizing some of those cost
figures.  I think it is a range between $180 to $200 if you
want to lock me in, but it could end up being a little bit more
or a little bit less but that is kind of a range.  We have
some handouts that we would be happy for you to take.  There
is a listing of some benefits that we believe that this will
create for our veterans and for their future treatment and
Senator Specter provided a letter that we have passed out
too and he certainly has been, along with our other elected
officials, been very supportive of this but Senator Specter
sent a letter today that we handed out and we will be happy
to have you have that for source as well.  And thank you very
much for coming today.