After a year of negotiations with Methodist Healthcare ended without a freestanding children's hospital in the Medical Center, the University of Texas Health Science Center turned to its longtime teaching partner, University Health Systems.
"We have over 140 beds available to us at University Hospital. That's a children's hospital in terms of scope," said Dr. Thomas Mayes, who chairs the UTHSC department of pediatrics.
Leni Kirkman, spokesperson for University Health System, said, "Knowing that we are going forward together to take really good care of the children of our community is super exciting and the timing couldn't be better."
Kirkman said Bexar County's publically funded hospital system recently completed its renovation of University Hospital with its new Sky Tower, super-sized emergency room, and the opening of the Robert B. Green Pavilion downtown providing outpatient care.
"Now we're able to take these spaces and really transform them into spaces that provide the level of care we want for our children," Kirkman said.
Mayes said, "It's more a comprehensive program using the assets that we have available and enhancing that."
They also said the transition to University Hospital actually began 18 months ago, when UTHSC medical students could no longer work at the new Children's Hospital of San Antonio, formerly CHRISTUS Santa Rosa downtown.
After its talks with UTHSC failed to produce an agreement in 2011, CHRISTUS formed a partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine and its renowned Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.
Mayes said his students then returned to University Hospital while construction was underway.
"We had a foundation. We're ready to go. We're almost complete with that transition," Mayes said.