NU President Gold says patient care will improve, expand with Clarkson health proposal

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – Dr. Jeffrey Gold said Monday that the proposed NU-Clarkson deal announced Friday is not a state takeover, and he wants patients to know nothing will change when it comes to their care.

As First Alert 6 reported on Friday, the deal would end a nearly 30-year partnership between Clarkson Regional Health Services and Nebraska Medicine.

According to Dr. Gold, Clarkson approached the university a year and a half ago, saying it wanted out of the joint ownership of Nebraska Medicine. The NU president said the University of Nebraska system is simply responding to Clarkson’s request to leave — but not forcing the change.

Under the proposal, the university would pay $500 million for Clarkson’s stake in Nebraska Medicine, plus $300 million for land and buildings.

Gold said the deal will not use taxpayer money, academic budgets from the state or tuition dollars. Instead, it will be financed through structured debt, letters of credit and monetizing real estate.

The university would acquire land and buildings in Omaha, Bellevue and Kearney, then rent them back to Nebraska Medicine or sell them to offset the debt.

Clarkson would also donate $200 million to the university’s Project Health — the largest single gift in university history.

Gold described the situation as an “amicable divorce” with one parent organization being done with the partnership. He said the university is responding to Clarkson’s request to leave, not forcing the change.

But Nebraska Medicine’s board is fighting back—calling the move a “state takeover” that could hurt patient care.

The health system says the deal is being negotiated without their input—and warns it could threaten the independence of medical experts.

Dr. Gold strongly disagrees.

“It’s very important for the community to understand that if this were to happen tomorrow, nothing is going to change in the quality, access, and affordability of their care. Nebraska Medicine is an extremely well-run, well-governed organization that is in complete control of those decision-making activities,” he said Monday.

Dr. Gold also said no one will become a state employee, and patients should only expect improvement and expansion of services.

Some critics of the proposal going before the Board of Regents on Friday have expressed concerns about how the plan will be financed. Dr. Gold said Monday that the deal wouldn’t touch the academic budgeting from the state — or tuition dollars. Instead, he said, it will be financed through a combination of structured debt, letters of credits, and monetizing the real estate.

Gold said there is a legal reason the university cannot refuse the deal. He said the 2016 joint operating agreement gives Clarkson the explicit right to withdraw and gives the Board of Regents the right to become sole owner if Clarkson leaves.

“This says, and this is a direct quote, in event of the withdrawal of Clarkson Regional Health Services, the board of regents shall have the right to continue to operate Nebraska Medicine as its sole member,” Gold said.

Gold said this type of arrangement is not unusual for major medical centers. He compared it to other Big Ten universities including the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota and Ohio State, saying they all have the same governance model where the university is the overarching owner of the health system.

He said academic medical centers that do not have university oversight have experienced “turmoil, turnover, and tensions.”

Gold said no one will become a state employee and patients should only expect improvement and expansion of services. He also said the university will not take money from Nebraska Medicine to support academics, and Nebraska Medicine will not give money to the university, keeping the two entities financially separate.

First Alert 6 reached out to Nebraska Medicine for additional comment on Monday, and expects to hear more from them on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Nebraska Medicine has published a website about the proposed deal saying, in part: “The current structure is effective and protects taxpayers from government overreach.”

Meeting information

The NU Board of Regents will meet next week at 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9 in the boardroom at Varner Hall, 3835 Holdrege St. in Lincoln.

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