I personally know the author of that article and I have buddies who are m1s at Utrgv. To any prospective students here who are concerned, this situation is massively overblown. They let go of some physician professors because they let go of their DHR hospital contract and are renegotiating with Driscoll, where the new physician professors will come from. Nothing to worry about.
Explain the following:
- Surgery department chair left and is now hired by VBMC-H. I can't speak to many specifics, but I feel based on word of mouth that UTRGV does not have adequate support staff to help their providers. The day-to-day operations of running efficient clinics and scheduling OR time cannot be stressed enough. Add on resident and medical school teaching and other responsibilities and you can only go so far.
- All that remains of their ENT department is a single PA. UTRGV once touted a pretty large ENT department and it has been decimated. I am sure losing DHR privileges hurt them. They also had surgeons working in Harlingen at VBMC-H and HMC. I am sure the surgeons who worked primarily at DHR could have obtained privileges at STHS-Edinburg/McAllen.
- Vice President of UT Health departed in early 2025 to Tulane. Suspect timing considering the crown jewel Cancer Center has not opened yet (delayed), but I guess when an opportunity presents itself you have to jump at it, right?
- SOM Dean departs to TN while citing that most deans have a 3-year lifespan.
- Primary care physicians (family medicine and internal medicine especially) have left for jobs with DHR.
- OB/GYN department is almost nonexistent. I know they made their home at DHR, but it is surprising that they were not able to pivot to other local facilities. I am sure someone can help explain this story to me with more detail. I will admit that I have very limited knowledge here. UTRGV touts their cancer research, especially with regards to cervical cancer (they have a lot of CPRIT $$$), but they don't seem to have much going on in the clinical space.
- They have a pathologist in charge of clinical lab AND radiology. Odd combo to have that seemed to be slopped together by a questionably knowledgeable c-suite admin (see above). Their clinical lab has been up and running awhile now, but their capabilities seem quite limited at present time. I can tell you that radiology will be super difficult to staff as EVERYONE in the area is have staffing issues. I wonder how the Cancer Center will be supported with limited help from pathology and radiology. They have three heme-oncs (one is being tied down with interim SOM dean duties) who are doing a pretty solid job, so that is a plus. The other local oncology group is quite large but I can tell you they are very maxed on work (a common theme for ALL physicians in the area). I do not have high hopes for the Cancer Center in McAllen, but I do want it to succeed. It's a nice looking building, but it seems hollow inside. Has anyone spoken about the $140M budget that ended up being $156M? I hope the parking lot looks better than their 30 valley-wide clinics.
Overall, there is indeed A LOT of turnover and there should be a lot to worry about. They are in a state of transition right now. You're going to see a lot of people in "interim" leadership positions. Case in point is the head of UTRGV oncology/internal medicine -- Dr. Cobos is now interim dean because Dr. Hocker left for TN (how did his RGV realtor talk in March 2025 go, by the way?
Hocker: When we finally get physicians to the Rio Grande Valley, they're amazed – Rio Grande Guardian). Losing DHR as their main clinical partner put them in difficult position. I think that they are going to forever be spinning their wheels trying to fulfill their vision of medicine here in the RGV. If you think Driscoll is going to save them, I have some beach front property in North Dakota I want to sell you. Driscoll is a nice shell with limited services as well (it's only natural since they barely opened their doors to the community). They are years away from what they are already touting, but I do think that they will accomplish their goals.
Keep on being a good soldier, but I think that these issues (and there are many more) need to be put out there and owned by UTRGV. I do not see Hidalgo County or Cameron County rescuing them with added tax payer support for a hospital district. While DHR gets a lot of flak for being profit-driven (how else do you expect a business to sustain itself?), UTRGV operates in the same manner. You cannot escape the economic pressures that are being thrust upon these institutions. The RGV has a dismal payor mix with the added bonus of a ridiculous amount of uninsured. If they are insured, you'll see a lot of MCR advantage plans that basically only seem to take advantage of the patient and provider. It's very difficult to recruit quality physicians with competitive compensation packages if your main source of income is leagues below other parts of the country. Have you seen how much fraud, waste, and abuse we have here?
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